A group of Rwandan insurgents gang-raped at least 179 women and young boys last month in a community of villages in Eastern Congo, the United Nations confirmed on August 24, 2010.
This horrific crime confirms the shocking findings of a recent report by Oxfam America, which estimated that 60 percent of rape victims in South Kivu are gang raped by armed men. More than half of the assaults take place in the victims' homes and an increasing number of attacks are being carried out by civilians. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has often been called the "rape capital of the world". More than 8,000 women were raped during fighting in 2009 alone, the UN says.
The Following Organizations Give Medical, Psychological and Economic Support to Congo Women:
- International Medical Corps,a non-profit relief and development organization, has provided emergency health care to the people in the eastern DRC since 1999. The organization offers health care training and stays in the conflict area long after the crisis has ended to help communities recover and get back to self-reliance. International Medical Corps was the first group to respond to the July 2010 gang-rape. They sent an emergency response team and set up a mobile clinic in the villages to give medical support and psychological first aid. International Medical Corps received an A+ rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy.
- Doctors Without Borders - Medicine Sans Frontieres (MSF) runs one of its largest intervention programs in eastern Congo with vaccination campaigns, cholera treatment programs, relief items distributions, hospital programs and sexual violence treatment clinics. MSF is the only international humanitarian organization performing surgery in North Kivu in Rutshuru Hospital. MSF has responded to the needs of thousands of rape survivors. Doctors Without Borders received an A rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy.
- Women for Women International connects sponsors with needy women in conflict or post-conflict countries. Sponsors receive information about the women and correspond with them. The sponsorship fee is $27 per month. Women for Women International hosts a network, serving over 7,000 women in the DRC. Women form groups and meet with local trainers to learn life skills, business and marketing skills, and receive income-generation assistance. Women for Women International received a B rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy.
- Heal Africa runs a hospital in Goma and 28 safe houses for women in Maniema and North Kivu. HEAL Africa’s community development work addresses the root causes of illness and poverty for the people of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It is led by Congolese doctors, receives funds from UNICEF. The Heal Africa hospital offers psychosocial care for rape survivors, testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS, medical and surgical care, and its doctors are pioneers in fistula repair. HEAL Africa is Congolese non-profit association, detailed programs and a 2008 Donations Report are available on its website.
Sources:
Catholic Information Service for Africa, Congo-Kinshasa: State is 'Rape Capital of the World', UN Official , allAfrica.com, June 4, 2010, Web.
Kron, Josh, Rwandan Rebels Raped at Least 179 Women in Congo, Humanitarian Officials Say, New York Times, August 23, 2010, Web.
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Oxfam International, "Now The World Is Without Me", An Investigation of Sexual Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, April 2010, Web.
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