Today Secretary Clinton is in Congo taking action to stop violence against women.
In her own words, she said:
“Well, there is no doubt that the ongoing conflict makes the problem worse. Unfortunately, we have seen in the late 20th century and now in this century a terrible trend of using sexual and gender-based violence as a tool of war to intimidate and demoralize populations and to force them to flee their homes.
And I think this is going to take a concerted effort from the Congolese Government as well as other governments in the region who have interests in the DRC. It’s going to take NGOs and civil society. It has to start with making sure that the military of the DRC does not engage in any sexual and gender-based violence, and there has to be no impunity for anyone who does, and there has to be an effort to cut off the funding for the militias and resolve the underlying political tensions in the east.
But sexual violence is a problem across the country, as it is in many countries, and there have to be stronger laws against domestic violence, against criminal rape that happens on the street of Kinshasa or any other city. There has to be strong prosecution and law enforcement and judiciary actions to make it clear that this is unacceptable, that there is no excuse for it. And that’s what I hope we will see.”
Yesterday, in an interview, she said:
“I will be pressing very hard for not just assistance to help those who are being abused and mistreated, and particularly the women who are turned into weapons of war through the rape that they experience, but also looking for ways to try to end this conflict.”
And earlier this week, we saw Ambassador Susan Rice give remarks to the United Nations Security Council on the Democratic Republic of Congo and the implementation of a Security Council Resolution that condemned the crime of rape and called on all parties to immediately end acts or rape and sexual violence during armed conflicts.
In Darfur and in Congo, this resolution has yet to be implemented. Women continue to be targets, which means our work is not yet finished.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Save Darfur Coalition.
Tags: DRC, Hillary Clinton, Obama Administration, Susan Rice, Violence Against Women
