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Stop Rape and Other Violence Against Women in War-torn Democratic Republic of Congo
Target: U.S. SenateSponsored by: CARE
The epidemic of rape and sexual violence in the war-torn country of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a humanitarian catastrophe.
The urgency of the crisis cannot be overstated.
© Phil Borges |
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Armed groups are effectively using sexual violence as a weapon of war and destruction, inflicting grievous physical, psychological and social harm on women, children and entire communities.
The physical and emotional harm these women and girls face is staggering, and they rarely find the medical and psychological care they so desperately need. While the perpetrators of these horrific crimes move with impunity to their next victims, whole communities live in constant fear of the next wave of violence.
The International Violence Against Women Act (S.2279) would significantly increase U.S. commitment to ending gender-based violence in the DRC and around the world. By passing the IVAWA, we will take a significant step toward addressing this type of violence in the DRC and other crisis regions around the world.
Sign Petition! see who signed this
We signed the “Stop Rape and Other Violence Against Women in War-torn Democratic Republic of Congo” petition!
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If we tolerate this we are no better than them .... This will only become a standard of life if we allow it to, by doing nothing.
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THIS IS ABSOLUTELY AND COMPLETELY INHUMANLY UNACCEPTABLE. WHATEVER CAN BE DONE TO ADDRESS THIS CATASTROPHY MUST BE DONE IMMEDIATELY! SINCE WE SO READILY PLAY THE ROLE OF "THE WORLDS' POLICEMAN" AND "DEFENDERS OF DEMOCRACY", WE ARE HUMANITARILY OBLIGATED TO DO EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO END THESE CRIMINAL ACTS AGAINST WOMEN.
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We must act on offenders that inflict any violence against women. Sexual assault and rape destroys the soul of the victim. I do not understand how we can just sit by while all these women are crying out for help.
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I have experienced abuse so this is especially heartfelt--Please help the women experiencing violence and abuse--I support this petition and encourage putting together policies that would protect women in the Congo and everywhere!
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your dharma becomes your kharma...what goes around comes around... you reap what you sow...
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Stop rape and Other Violence Against Women in War-torn Democratic Republic of Congo now
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10:41 am PDT, Apr 30,
Bonnie Hoffman, California
Watch this documentary! Listen to the stories first hand from these women and children! http://www.linktv.org/programs/duty In the Democratic Republic of Congo children up 40 to 60 percent of combatants during wartime have been children, some as young as eight years old. Through the voices of these children, this documentary explores the issue of recruitment of child soldiers, rape as a weapon of war, sexual exploitation of girls in armed forces!! |
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A Sundance Film Festival 2008 winner, "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo" airing on HBO tells the heart-wrenching story suffered daily by Congolese women and children through the eyes of rape-survivor Lisa Jackson. These ARE NOT ISOLATED events - These are the most violent and inhumane acts of cruelty I’ve ever seen committed against a nation's own people regardless of age, status or condition – mothers, grandmothers, children from infancy through the elderly. Congolese solders have systematically de-evolved into a misogynous regime of force and brutality against the citizens they are served with protecting. Girls and boys as young as 3 to 75 year old women are being systematically tortured and raped by mass gangs of soldiers – mutilated and left for dead. If they survive, they are forever ostracized by their own families as rape, you see, is a cultural taboo – a condition that is not only NOT spoken of, but looked on as the fault of the victim. They are abandoned by their husbands, their parents, their communities – and often are so scarred physically and emotionally; they have nowhere to turn for help. Marriage for these women are normally impossible and child bearing a slim possibility after having many of their internal reproductive parts mutilated by guns, tree limbs, forced gang rape and subsequent infection. Village females are kidnapped and imprisoned as sexual slaves to solders for years only to return home to guilt and blame. Pregnant woman have their unborn fetuses intentionally ripped from their wombs and made to watch before being raped over and over again. These acts are occurring in pandemic proportions and it’s time we as a country and as people united by our humanity not divided by our geographic distance or cultural divide, join to put an end to this genocide. If more than our God-given responsibility to protect and keep our fellow man and woman is not sufficient justification for our intervention, then continue reading as the problem in the Congo adversely affects us all. 80 percent of the world’s supply of COLTAN rests solely in the Congo. What is Coltan you ask? Every cell phone, every laptop, EVERY ELECTRONIC DEVICE we rely on–must have Coltan to exist. The fight for Coltan has killed more than 5 million people. Part II “no Hiding Place” of the British documentary “Earth Report” explores the fight for this technology-required $6 billion a year mineral Coltan and its perilous impact on the Congolese including exploitation of children through forced strip mining and dwindling populations of the endangered mountain gorillas. http://www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Blood_Phones.html The U.S. must act to stop these hate crimes. The reach of our influence must go beyond protecting what benefits us alone – it must reach as far as necessary to stop crimes against humanity. When my son looks at me and states “America won’t let this happen. Our military will put an end to it and protect the people! ……won’t we? I want always to say “YES. Of Course We Will!” Things are often so simple to young people, but that simplicity should be our guiding force as making decisions to act based on anything more – or requiring that it be of some value to us over sheer moral obligation – is a flawed way of looking at the world and our place in it. Yvette Kalkay Maryland, USA
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