MSF calls for national protocol on sexual violence

A national protocol on sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is needed to end rapes that are going on despite the end of the civil war, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday in a new report. "The impunity of the perpetrators of sexual violence is unacceptable and to a large extent is the reason why sexual violence continues today in the DRC," Maria Jose Mora, the MSF representative in the DRC, said in a statement issued to coincide with the launch of the report. The MSF report, titled "I have no joy, no peace of mind", was launched simultaneously in Nairobi, in the DRC capital, Kinshasa , and in Amsterdam, to highlight the medical, psychosocial and socioeconomic consequences of sexual violence in the DRC and the use of rape as a weapon of war. MSF urged the integration of medical treatment for victims in the reconstruction of health services in the DRC, and recommended that political authorities should ensure laws related to rape were implemented so that perpetrators were brought to justice. The Congolese authorities should make sexual violence a key element in the improvement of the justice system in the country and in the reconciliation processes that are planned, MSF said. Ongoing insecurity perpetuates the continued sexual violence against girls, women and men, MSF reported. During the launch of the report in Nairobi, the MSF deputy head of mission in the DRC, Damian Lilly, and Helen Clarkson, the MSF project coordinator in Baraka, a town in the eastern province of South Kivu, made presentations on MSF's work with rape victims. Clarkson said although the report was based on medical data and stories of rape victims treated by MSF in Baraka, the phenomenon was widespread in many places in the Congo, especially in the east where armed militias still operate. She said at least 620 rape victims had visited the clinic in Baraka since MSF began operations there in July 2003. "At least 75 percent of those who sought help at the MSF clinic had been rapped by groups of men, ranging between two to five men," she said. She said among the medical consequence of sexual violence were sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, physical injuries from the use of force, reproductive health problems as well as unwanted pregnancies. Lilly said the aim of the MSF report was to raise the profile of the problem and to lobby for increased aid for the victims to allow them to regain their livelihoods. "The stigma attached to rape victims must be fought and socioeconomic support provided to rape victims, allowing them to maintain their livelihoods and dignity," MSF said. It added, "Low-level projects like microcredit or soap manufacture have been designed by local organisation and only lack the necessary funding." [The MSF report is available online on: www.msf.org]