Rape is never acceptable. There is no justification for this, or any, act of sexualized violence. Never a reason why it would be acceptable.
Unfortunately, this hasn’t stopped people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from using women as “pawns” in their ongoing war. According to CNN, the United Nations is reporting that at least 15,000 women were raped in last year alone in the east of the Congo. Despite denial from the Congo’s defense minister, the UN is accusing the Rwandan and Congolese militias of committing acts of mass rape.
As reported by CNN:
One of the women, Tina Manajera, agreed to speak with CNN. She said she wanted “to be brave.”
“The Rwanda militiamen came at night, everyone ran away, even my husband. But I don’t blame him. That’s all you can do when they come, try and run for your life.”
Tina said she watched as eight other women were dragged out from their hiding places, as the militiamen ransacked the village.
She said they were led into the forest at gunpoint and when their attackers stopped for the night, they took turns raping the women.
“When it happens you lose consciousness because you’re so afraid. I came to only as I was passed from man to man.”
News reports of sexualized violence are obviously upsetting, but hearing it first hand from a victim of rape is absolutely heartbreaking. It is sickening to think that anyone would use rape of innocent and defenseless individuals (female or male) to gain political leverage. To cause so much pain for such utterly pointless reasons.
However? This is not new news. I wrote a couple of months ago about the UN’s overdue report on the systematic gang rape of women and children in a Congolese village. However, what is recent is that women in the Congo are speaking out and asking for help. After telling her story, she said:
“I am in pain every day. I would do anything to change that. Maybe if I tell you what happened to me other people out there in the world will hear and they can do something to make us safe, to make the pain go away.”
If that isn’t a call to arms for women everywhere, then I don’t know what is. Something has to be done to create space spaces for the women of the Congo, and fast. Why isn’t more happening faster?
