March 2011 -Congolese Women Speak Out:
International Women’s Day


On March 08th, women throughout the world celebrated the ‘International Women’s Day.’

Unfortunately, we Congolese women, we didn’t have much to celebrate for. What happens to the women of Congo is also happening to all of us; we have lost our humanity, our dignity. We would compromise our integrity if we do not engage in their struggle.

Hundreds of thousands of women have been violently raped, mutilated and terrorized by a host of culprits (Rebel Groups, Rwandan Soldiers, ‘Congolese Soldiers,’ civilian population and even the United Nations).

The atrocities visited upon these women are hardly mentionable much less believable. They have faced gang rape, sexual slavery, kidnapping, forced incest, genital mutilation, torture, murder of loved ones and psychological trauma; all in an attempt to terrorize, displace and subdue the population.

The question for our global sisters who will be celebrating is, what have you done for Congolese women whom have been incapacitated by the extraordinary violence done to their bodies and spirits, crippling a whole society? Will you ignore and abandon those who will be raped, either again, or for the first time, by armed militia extracting the minerals used in the electronics we love and rely on? Or, will we as consumers, as members of the human race, take actions, sustained over time, to make gender violence atrocities stop?

For more than a century, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been plagued by regional conflict and a deadly scramble for its vast natural resources. In fact, greed for Congo’s natural resources has been a principal driver of atrocities and conflict throughout Congo’s tortured history.

Armed groups continue to massacre villages and rape women in large numbers, sustaining themselves by controlling minerals mines and trading routes. Despite the presence of the world’s largest UN peacekeeping operation, violent conflict never actually ceased in Congo.

The Congo is the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today where more than 6 million people have died since 1996, half of them children under 5 yrs old. More than 2 million people have been displaced, driven out from their homes, and now, living in poorly protected camps in horrible conditions. Although humanitarian organizations provide life-saving supplies and care to the camps, it is often almost impossible for families to earn a living or properly care for their children in such settings.

The United Nations said it is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War Two. However, hardly anything is said about it in the media. There is a media blackout about Congo and no worldwide resolution to end the conflict and carnage there.
Although the conflict in eastern Congo remains one of the world’s most complex, one thing is for certain: widespread sexual violence and atrocities committed against civilians are not abating, and in many regions they continue to increase. Even on the New Year eve, while throughout the world, people were celebrating 2011; 30 Congolese women were violently gang-raped, mutilated and terrorized, according to MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres), an undoubtedly low estimate, given the number of incidents that go unreported.

"The rape of the land, the mutilation of the flesh." La femme Congolaise - courageous and industrious despite the vicissitudes and the turbulence of life. She continues to fight for herself, taking on professions previously reserved for men. More often she must pay her children's school fees and compensate for her husband who is either underpaid, unemployed, or absent. She will sell anything, even peanuts at the market, to ensure the survival of her family. And yet, her body has become a battlefield. In Congo, "A Dead Rat Is Worth More than the Body of a Woman"

Women are, in many ways, the backbone of the Congolese economy and society. Since the violence began, the economic and social structures framed by women, from familial roles to labor, have been fractured. In the fight to control resources and their wealth, the violence has shuffled economic development in the country.

Demonstrating their incredible strength and their faith in their ability to continue their own advancement, these women stand strong in their communities even as they denounce the rape and the violence they experience.

Concerned citizens worldwide should continue to raise their collective voices to pressure U.S., UK leaders, their national representatives, and other western governments to not only take stock of the horrific human rights abuses occurring in the region, but to take action as well.

Ironically, the international community spends well in excess of $2 billion a year treating the symptoms of the Congolese crisis (with peacekeeping and emergency assistance), but roughly one-tenth of 1 percent of what they spend on aid and peacekeepers is spent on addressing the main fuel for its continuation: conflict minerals.

An effort to end these atrocities would yield better results than any billion-dollar aid, any city built in Eastern Congo, or whatsoever humanitarian NGOs could wage to win the hearts and minds of the oppressed.

And, because the multinational corporations hide the direct connections between their demand for Congo’s natural resources and the destruction of human life in that country, especially women and girls, we don’t realize that the solution lies in part with us as electronics consumers.

The “blood diamonds’’ case provides a crucial precedent. Until there was general consumer uproar about the effect Western demand for a precious commodity was having on the people of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Angola, those conflicts continued to burn, with Western consumers providing all the fuel necessary to keep the wars going indefinitely. Electronics companies should pressure their suppliers to ensure that these minerals don’t originate in mines that fuel the war and corruption, and allow independent audits to prove it.

There is no authority, either at the territorial level, or that of the province, and much less on the national level, that is able to control what is going on in this region.

To avoid a civil war following the 2011 elections, the International Community should display the same drive and determination, including exerting pressure on those financing and enabling the conflict, as it did to accomplish Charles Taylor's extradition to Sierra Leone.

War criminals should be prosecuted without prejudice. Congolese people need a government which would create conditions for peace, justice and stability. Furthermore, the IC should fully support the recommendations of the U.N. Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and the UN mapping recommendations to help prosecute those individuals and corporations mentioned in the report.

Congo's extraordinary circumstances require bold measures. Unless the US, the UK, and other global leaders reconsider their Congo policy and deals vigorously with the negative forces, the conflict is likely to escalate beyond its current cataclysmic proportions. The stakes are high: the IC diplomatic half-steps in Congo undermine the long-term strategic goals in Africa.

Please, join Liberation/Congolese Women Group, with the IT MUST STOP Campaign. We make a point of informing while taking the whole world as a witness of what is happening in the DR Congo in glance with the women's rights through the various means of communications.

This conflict has destroyed all prospects of development and stability in our country.

Victoria Dove Dimandja - Congolese Human Right Campaigner
Liberation Congolese Women Group