According to a recent independent survey* commissioned by the ICRC, 28% of the people interviewed in the DRC know someone who has fallen victim to sexual violence, and 76% have been affected in some way by the armed conflict. Of those with personal experience of the conflict, 58% have been displaced from their homes at some point, and 47% have lost contact with a close relative.

In North and South Kivu there continue to be reports of numerous crimes against civilians, including rape, murder, and the looting and destruction of homes. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. It is estimated that in North Kivu alone, since the beginning of the year, over 300,000 people have been displaced by armed violence.

Most rape victims are women, but the number of men and boy victims is on the increase. According to counsellors in the area, men are often brutally raped when the perpetrators cannot find any women to sexually abuse. These men are frequently so traumatized that they no longer have the strength to work. As Paul tells the social worker Katungo Kilauri, he used to sell alcohol to pay for school items and medical care for his children, but now the family is struggling to survive on the money his wife earns.

The proliferation of small arms and light weapons often results in greater risk of sexual violence. But women and men are being raped even in areas where there is no longer any fighting. The sheer presence of men with guns represents a danger for tens of thousands of people who live in fear of sexual violence and other forms of physical violence.

Sexual violence is rooted in a variety of factors, including:

• a weak chain of command leaving fighters without clear instructions to follow;
• a widespread culture of impunity, meaning that most perpetrators of rape are never held to account, despite the fact that both Congolese law and international humanitarian law clearly prohibit all forms of sexual violence;
• the fact that fighters do not receive regular salaries or food supplies – they often steal from the population, and rape the villagers, as a form of payment;
• a tendency to terrorize civilians and exert control over them, or to punish them for perceived collaboration with the "enemy".

Since 2005 the ICRC has been supporting "maisons d'écoute" (counselling centres – literally, "houses for listening") for victims of sexual violence. Today it provides support for 37 such centres, which are run by local associations in North and South Kivu. Social workers listen to the victims, counsel them, direct them to health centres and, if needed, mediate between them and their families. The health centres provide victims with a kit containing, among other things, medication against sexually transmitted infections.

In order help women avoid the risk of rape that they are exposed to when they gather firewood in remote areas, the counselling centres also show them how to make bricks from wood pulp that can be used as fuel for low-energy cooking stoves.

In addition to the physical and psychological pain they suffer, rape victims are often rejected by their families and neighbours, and become vulnerable to further abuse. The stigma is compounded by the climate of insecurity and the collapse of public services, which limit victims' ability to obtain access to much-needed medical and psychological care.

Social workers also run community-awareness campaigns to combat rejection and stigma and promote an environment where the needs of victims of sexual violence are acknowledged.

Says counsellor Micheline Mupenzi: "There is much suffering around, and psychological wounds are not given enough attention. You can treat victims of sexual violence from a strictly medical point of view, but they can die if their 'inner wounds' are not taken into account. Some women go back home and stop eating – they do nothing but cry, and eventually die from mental and physical exhaustion."

* Consult this survey online

Shot list

Date, location: south and north Kivus, DRC, May 2009
Production: Claire Doole, Didier Revol, ICRC
Camera: Pedram Yazdi
Sound: VO, Swahili, French
Length: 09' 57"
Format: HDVCam 16:9
Ref: V F CR-F-01031-A
Copyright: ICRC - Access all


00 00 Woman walks on path winding through banana plantation

00 08 Water point with women and children fetching water (2 shots)

00 18 Woman in bean field with close-up

00 32 Woman walks on road with truck coming her way

00 40 Counselling centre (maison d'écoute) in Kiwanja. Esther, victim of rape (green dress), enters premises

00 55 Esther and Mariette Paluku Nzaira (social worker) starting counselling session (cutaways)

Esther: They took me by the arm. When I tried to struggle, they broke my arm. Now I can’t use it any more. Then they raped me.

01 10 Mariette: Yes. Thank you for coming.

01 11 Esther: I hope you can help me to calm down. I don’t understand myself. My heart beats hard and fast and I ask myself where I am. I want to be at peace in my heart. I have become confused and disoriented.

01 27 Mariette: If I understood you properly, when you felt better, you fled to Rutshuru

01 37 ITW Esther
They came to the house, opened the door while beating me up and beating all the children too. They took everything out: that is when they caught me. I tried to scream and struggle but it did not help. They took my arms and pulled me like this. My arm got injured. They raped me. I had a big son who was 20 and wanted to get married soon. They killed him.

02 12 ITW Esther
When I remember, I cry out and ask myself, oh my brothers, what kind of problem is it in this world that is making us suffer so much, us women. Going to the fields is terrifying. We are at a loss for what to do. Mama Mariette is the only one calming me. So I come here to see her. She tells me to be strong.

02 37 Close-up on board Ligue pour la solidarité congolaise

02 40 Wide shot on board Ligue pour la solidarité congolaise

02 43 Mariette and Esther walk hand-in-hand in courtyard

02 53 ITW Mariette
Many women are attacked, then they withdraw into themselves, because they are traumatized. When we received our training, I saw that this work was very important to women – to help them overcome this problem, and be able to take back their former lives and also continue living and taking care of their families.

03 20 ITW Mariette
The advantage in coming here, for these women who feel dishonoured, is that they receive counselling. Because they are worried that their families or neighbours will find out and reject them.

03 40 In courtyard Mariette shows victims how to make a low-energy cooking stove and fire bricks from wood pulp

03 45 Close-up on cooking stove

03 57 Wide shot of women in courtyard

04 02 Woman crushes wood pulp with stick to make fire bricks.

04 06 Counselling centre in Kako-Kalengera

04 15 Social worker Katungo Kilauri listens to a male rape victim

04 27 ITW Paul
They said OK, that I should lower my trousers because they wanted to make me their wife. I said I had not seen anything like that, or even heard of it. I have children. Finally they grabbed me and forced me to the ground. I asked them why they wanted to rape me like that. I told them it was better if they shot me so that I would die and rest without having committed that sin.

04 58 ITW Paul
They tore my trouser and underwear and started to rape me. One gets out, the next enters, twice for each person, five people, ten times in total. By the time the fifth was done, they thought I was dead. They went away. When they left, I struggled and tried to stand up, I managed to walk on the road, resting from time to time. But I was bleeding heavily, my insides were out.

05 30 Paul walks out of the counselling centre (2 shots)

05 52 Pano of Katungo with her baby resting outside the counselling centre (2 shots)

06 04 ITW Katungo
When men are raped, they are immediately shocked because they don't understand how real men could do this to them. When we talk to the victims, they usually say their private parts are "deteriorating". That really bothers them.

06 34 ITW Katungo
When a man feels that way, he understands what happens to women. When a man is raped, it means the rapists didn’t find a woman. When there is no woman, an encounter with these people can turn very ugly for any man.

06 47 Katungo (from back) walks in the village (2 shots)

07 00 Various shots of street life (3)

07 12 View of IDP camp in Buhimba

07 17 ITW Micheline Mupenzi, social worker from the Red Cross of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (French)
I'm going to explain to people what rape is. I'm going to explain what the consequences are and how important it is that the victims receive psychological and medical care within 72 hours.

07 42 Men sitting in front of a tent

07 45 Micheline with megaphone walks towards meeting point

07 56 Various shots of Micheline in front of the audience explaining, among other things, how to recognize a victim of sexual violence

Micheline

08 52 Close-up of young girl

08 56 Kids play in camp

09 09 ITW Nadine Puechguirbal, adviser women and war at the ICRC
When committed in connection with armed conflict, sexual violence is a war crime prohibited by international humanitarian law. I think it is very important, therefore, that sexual violence not be considered a mere by-product of war. On the contrary, it can and must be prevented, and the fight against impunity must be a priority.

09 36 ITW Nadine Puechguirbal
It is extremely important that all victims of sexual violence – men, women, girls and boys – have access to counselling and proper medical care.

09 48 Cutaways of Nadine at work


09 57 END

For confidentiality purposes, names of victims are fictional.