Amidst all of the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of the most widely utilized forms of violence is rape. With an enormous number of rape crimes, the lives of the Congolese women are constantly threatened and mistreated. This sexual violence is an extremely common tactic in the unending warfare, for there are many ways in which it can potentially weaken the enemy. "Rape has been a war tactic in recent years here, a way for armed groups to tear apart communities, destroy villages and flush families from their land." The soldiers tend to use the local women as sexual replacements of their wives while they are away, and those women who survive the crime are often ostracized from their husbands and their community. Through familial tension and shame, rape crimes have the capability to weaken the ties within a community.
Cases of mass rape not only implement social issues; they also severely impair the health of the victimized community. The spread of HIV/AIDS is extremely damaging to an entire region in the long run, and the lasting effect of spreading a disease goes hand-in-hand with the effect of injury. Rossette Kavira, a gynecologist at a hospital in the town of Goma, states that "almost all victims require surgery due to bleeding or wounds inflicted through torture by their attackers." Yet since there are so many rape victims, women often wait months before they are able to receive any form of treatment. These horriffic acts of sexual violence can tear apart any strength that the community may have previously had.
Yet why is rape so unbearably common in the Democratic Republic of Congo? It is a weapon that is more readily available and the cheapest of any weapon used in the past, such as bombs and bullets. According to a recent report involving approximately 750 victims, "most of the women (87 percent) were raped during the day. The rest were raped at night." There are very few times when the women can feel safe and not threatened by the ongoing rape crimes, for the act is so common and has such demoralizing effects on Congolese communities.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=1836
http://africa-reports.blogspot.com/2010/10/democratic-republic-of-congo-background.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3953747.stm
http://crs.org/democratic-republic-of-congo/rape-counseling/
This is actually very sad because most of the women of the Democratic Republic of Congo are raped and often times there rights ar non-existant. Using the womens personal body is something that I would portray as very sacred and I could imagine these things happen to me. And then they are ostracized from their husbands. They have to suffer because someone else decided to hurt them. The men who raper these women probably feel as if they gain a sense of strength but when really these tactics are horrific.
ReplyDeleteI just think that the fact that these women don't even feel safe in their own villages is a horrifying thing. I find it interesting that rape is actually refered to as a weapon in that it's cheaper and can easily destroy a village. In my eyes this kind of tactic is a lot worse than just striaght up shooting someone. This is something that mentally and emotionally scars women and leaves then embarassed and afraid. The fact that rape as become so common reminds me of ruined because its common to them as well. In ruined "rape" occurs on the account of religion but in the DCR its for revenge. Either way I think that its one of the worst things that any woman could do through.
ReplyDeleteI read the last article you linked to and came across this line: "Men are now raping teenagers whom they have grown up with, who live in their neighborhoods."
ReplyDeleteI think that's a pretty powerful testimony to how detaching this conflict is on a personal level for those who are involved - as I'm sure you would have to be to committ rape as a war crime, ESPECIALLY against somebody you grew up with. It seems like it's this detachment that contributes to the increasing complexity of this conflict. When you can't get people to feel remorse, or for them to desire a different future, I'm sure it becomes incredibly difficult to insight meaningful change.
The widespread use of rape as a weapon is horrifying, disgusting, abominable, and disturbingly logical if one eliminates all moral or ethical concerns. As a weapon of war, it's free, and it's effective - it tears these communities apart, making them weaker and more vulnerable to defeat. We see this in Ruined with Salima - she is no longer welcome in her village because she was raped, presenting the village with a child without a mother. Since mothers are the ones who care for children, what happens to her? Certainly, the stigma and shame associated with rape creates tensions in these villages where it's a widespread problem because so many women are raped.
ReplyDeleteAs for the community's health, "ruined" women like Sophie are common. Not only does Sophie exemplify the amount of physical damage that rape can do, she represents all of the woman who can never have a family and contribute to social stability (from a Western perspective, this is sexist, but I think it has more validity in the DRC).