Republic of Congo faces epidemic of rape, violence, UN told

UNITED NATIONS — Women and girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo face rampant rape and sexual exploitation, deadly violence and coercion into human trafficking rings as humanitarian conditions in the country deteriorate, UN officials and experts said Monday.

“The security and humanitarian situation of women in the DRC is increasingly degrading, dramatic, catastrophic and chaotic,” said Jeanine Bandu Bahati, head of EFIM, a nongovernmental organization in eastern Congo, who testified before the Security Council.

“The majority of those affected are traumatized and live without hope for the future, especially those living in rural areas where we intervene,” she added. “The situation has been getting worse every year for more than two decades.”

Bahati spoke along with UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, who similarly described Congo as being in dire need of help while requesting financial aid.

There are 4.5 million people displaced, and 13 million people need humanitarian assistance, 2.2 million of whom are suffering from acute malnutrition, he said.

And, Lowcock added, cholera is a “mushrooming epidemic,” spreading at levels not seen in the past 15 years.

“There is also an epidemic of sexual violence,” he said, “most of it unreported and unaddressed, and much of it against children.”

He added: “Without a halt to the violence, and a successful political transition, these numbers will all increase,” referring to spasms of violence, some carried out by security forces on civilians in demonstrations, and an election in December that will decide who may succeed President Joseph Kabila.

He came to power in 2001 when his father, Laurent, was assassinated, and has prevailed in two elections. A 2016 election did not take place because Kabila refused to step down, citing instability in the mineral-rich country at the time.

The experts and ambassadors spoke about the crisis facing women in the DRC as the UN hosts a two-week conference focusing on the plight of women worldwide.

The Commission on the Status of Women this year featured dozens of panels and speeches on subjects as varied as the #MeToo movement, the portrayals of women in mass media, gender equality in pay in all professions and the threats of violence that women face worldwide, regardless of race, nationality or socioeconomic status.

The 62nd meeting is titled “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls.”

Troubling reports on women in the DRC took center stage Monday at the international conference devoted to uplifting all women, but especially the most vulnerable. The country was in 2010 described as the “rape capital of the world” by Margot Wallstrom, who was then the UN’s special representative for sexual violence in conflict.

“Increased poverty, unemployment, relentless vulnerability, rural exodus, trauma, weapons proliferation and so on,” Bahati said Monday. “This is a ticking time bomb for the massacre, extermination of women and girls, and the entire population if there are no effective measures to prevent, protect and support women and girls at the grass roots level.”

Lowcock appealed to the international community to help fund humanitarian efforts in the DRC as the UN, European Union, United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands co-host a fundraising conference next month in Geneva.

Organizers hope to secure $1.7 billion and establish multiyear funding for the country.

“Progress in the DRC is possible,” Lowcock said. “Over the past 15 years, infrastructure in many major cities has improved, access to education has increased, child mortality rates have fallen and immunization rates have increased. We need to strengthen our support to the Congolese people.”