Military Sexual Violence Against Women In DR Congo Drops – Report

The United Nations Joint Bureau on Human Rights has signalled a drop in sexual violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the month of October 2020.

In its monthly report published on Tuesday, the UN Bureau revealed that combatants of armed groups in the country were responsible for 10 of the sexual assaults against women, which was a significant drop from the figures for September 2020, which recorded 32 victims.

According to the report, documented sexual violence cases against women linked to the armed conflict in the country for the month of October 2020 amounted to 47 as against 53 victims for the month of September 2020.

Contrary to earlier months, state agents mostly soldiers, were responsible for the majority of cases counting 37 victims to their credit, which was an increase as compared to the previous month which saw cases of sexual violence against women by soldiers of the national army standing at 21.

Combatants of armed groups were responsible for 10 sexual assaults against women, which was a drop from the 32 assaults recorded a month earlier.

A big number of the female sexual victims originated from the Upper Katanga province where 25 assaults were recorded particularly during the mutiny in the Kasapa prison in Lubumbashi.

The provinces of North Kivu with 12 victims and South Kivu with five victims were also affected.

Most of the assaults happened during prison escape attempts or while the victims were in their farms.

It should be recalled that the world is right now observing  16 days of activism on gender-based violence on the theme “Orange the World: Finance, Intervene, Take, Collect”.