Will the European Endgame on Conflict Minerals Put an End to Financing Rape in the DRC?

Oct 26, 2015 | Margot Wallström and Denis Mukwege
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In the Eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), armed groups and criminal operators terrorize the population. Sexual violence against women is frequently used as a weapon to exert control over commerce, land, and the primary labor force in this largely agrarian region. Survivors of sexualized violence arrive daily at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu. They are women and girls, even toddlers and infants, presenting with devastating injuries. The violence and corruption has born another generation of victims and survivors. Babies born as a result of rape are now young women arriving at Panzi, as new generations of victims of sexualized violence.