Women Sexually Violated Amid Ongoing Conflict in DR Congo — Report 

Several women sexually violated in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have come forward to report the war crimes committed against them by the M23 rebels amid the ongoing war in the country. The women spoke to Human Rights Watch researchers, but asked to be kept anonymous out of fear of retribution from the predators. 

The international organisation documented it in a report the atrocities committed by the rebels and Rwandan soldiers against the Congolese women. The report, published on May 13,  revealed how the duo summarily executed men and raped women during raids on civilian communities. Victims described being raped under threat of death and at gunpoint in their homes or in fields while searching for food, according to the HRW report. The attackers assaulted or killed relatives who attempted to stop them from sexually violating women. The absence of operational healthcare services in Uvira during the violent operations deprived survivors of crucial medical attention, including access to post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent HIV infection.

A woman who was allegedly raped by a combination of the M23 rebels and Rwanda soldiers in Uvira told  HRW researchers about the hell she was put through by the invaders in Uvira. 

“They stripped me completely naked, tied my hands behind my back with my clothes and then raped me. They continued doing so for a long time, and when my husband tried to intervene, they took him outside our house and shot him dead, ” the woman whose identity is being withheld in order to maintain her dignity told HRW.

The woman eventually lost consciousness and later consulted a health professional, receiving analgesics and a post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) kit. She says she still suffers from a persistent infection. The woman is one of eight individuals identified in the recent HRW report. 

According to the report, survivors of the atrocities identified their torturers as M23 combatants and soldiers of the Rwandan army, notably because they spoke the Kinyarwanda language and wore uniforms of the Rwandan army. They also carried military hardware which could easily be recognised and linked to the Rwandan army. 

Another woman cited in the report revealed how she was sexually violated on the same day, while she was working on her farm in Katala, situated in Uvira territory. She said two fighters approached her, one of them pointed a gun at her and declared in Kinyarwanda: “If you don’t do what I tell you, I will kill you”. The men, whom she identified through their Rwandan army uniforms, then went ahead to rape her. She eventually went to the Kavimvira health centre in Uvira for treatment, but she received no medical attention.

A third woman revealed that she was also sexually assaulted in December when she went to search for food, as provisions have been dwindling since the arrival of the M23 rebels in the zone. She said a Congolese and a Rwandan assaulted her sexually.

“The Rwandan man said he wanted to kill me, but the Congolese said ‘no, rape her’,” the woman revealed. She said after having been raped, she was afraid to go to a hospital for treatment and rather opted to go buy drugs from a pharmacy which only sold antibiotics to her. She stated that she continues to experience pain and has ongoing bleeding, but she has been unable to undergo medical tests, including an HIV test. 

Another woman told HRW that she was sexually assaulted on January 3, 2026, while she was on her farm on the periphery of Uvira. She said an M23 combatant and a Rwandan soldier who were pretending to be searching for water accosted her, and one of them ordered, “If you shout, we will kill you”, adding that they had not been with a woman for over six months, during which time they were in the bush. Since the rape incident, she has been bleeding and sick.

The woman revealed that during the occupation of Uvira by the M23 rebels, hospitals were not providing treatment for sexual violence, so she did not benefit from the medical kit necessary within 72 hours following sexual violence.

“In all the accounts rendered, the survivors underlined the almost total absence of accessible health services during the M23 and Rwandan occupation, and in particular, the absence of post-rape treatment at the appropriate time, as well as adequate treatment for wounds and infections provoked by sexual violence. Other essential services, including psycho-social support, the collection of proofs and judicial assistance were also not available”, the HRW report reveals.

The United Nations Population Fund, on its part, notes that sexual violence committed by the belligerent parties in the Eastern DR Congo has increased, with more than 80,000 cases of rape reported between January and September 2025, which is a 32 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024.

The sudden and chaotic cuts in international aid introduced by the American government at the beginning of 2025 abruptly halted emergency medical treatment and various forms of support for thousands of survivors of sexual violence.

The survivors have been confronted by a bigger risk of contracting HIV or unplanned pregnancies because the clinics and hospitals in the Eastern DR Congo no longer have stocks of post-exposure prophylactic (PEP) kits, which were hitherto mostly supplied by projects financed by the United States. These kits are supposed to be administered 72 hours after exposure in order to prevent infections like HIV.

The strategic town of Uvira has, since the M23/AFC rebels occupied Bukavu at the beginning of December 2025, become the provisional capital of South Kivu province despite the signing of the Washington Accords by Felix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame in the presence of Donald Trump. Supported by Rwanda, the M23/AFC rebels launched a rapid offensive, resulting in the capture of the town.