DR CONGO, August 11 (UNHCR) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called widespread sexual violence against women in eastern Congo “a crime against humanity” during a visit to the region Tuesday where she met with displaced civilians at a UNHCR-run camp.
More than half of the two million people displaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are women and in an area where the use of rape and sexual violence are endemic, many of those forced from their homes have been victimized.
– The US condemns the perpetrators of sexual violence, and all those who abet such violence and permit impunity to continue, said Clinton, and added: – These individuals are guilty of crimes against humanity. These individuals harm not only individuals, families, villages and regions, but shred the very fabric that weaves us together as human beings.
Cases of harassment, human right abuses, rape and intimidation against civilians are regularly reported by the local population in eastern DR Congo. Civilians live under the constant threat of armed men who systematically pillage, rape, burn houses and confiscate food rations.
UNHCR is running a number of programmes in eastern DR Congo seeking to help victims of sexual violence. These include counselling and awareness raising projects. Skills training and literacy courses assist and empower women who are survivors of sexual violence, infected with hiv/aids, illiterate or otherwise excluded from the society.
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