This is a cry for an end to sexual violence against women in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Beware; there is nothing sensual or sexy about this topic. These violent, despicable acts of mutilation, committed against women and girls to intimidate in wartime, lead to pain, humiliation and dislocation. These acts have no place in the 21st century, not in the DRC, not anywhere.
I recently joined a group of nearly 500 global citizens including doctors, lawyers, social workers, investigators, fund-raisers and students, both undergraduate and graduate, to listen to a conversation between Eve Ensler, a playwright/performer/activist and award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues and Dr. Denis Mukwege (pronounced Moo-kweh-gay), Director of Panzi General Referral Hospital in Bukavu, provincial capital of South
Kivu, one of the eastern most provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This critical dialogue was a call to action to stop violence against women and girls.
While the program's focus was on violence against women in the DRC and Dr. Mukwege's selfless commitment to these women, it is not restricted to a particular country or culture but the outgrowth of war, which, in general, continues unabated today. Our consciences were raised, through explicit detail, as to how women are used as a violation of life itself - women in the DRC, Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Burma, Darfur, Iran and elsewhere.
Prompted by Eve's thoughtful questions, Dr. Mukwege described, through the words of a French translator on loan from the United Nations, that he detected a pattern of physical problems related to sexual violence in 1999. "These were not just rapes, but barbaric acts," he said. While there were just four accounts of rape with deep wounds that year, by 2000, the number of similar cases increased to 160. Each instance has strikingly similar characteristics and the pattern continues as annual numbers continue to increase daily.
Dr. Mukwege summarized the "extraordinary trend" as follows:
1. Women are raped in front of their children, husbands and neighbors. Often times the children are also raped then murdered together with the husbands after the women are raped.
2. Gangs of soldiers and rebels, who hide in the woods, engage in these acts of violence. Women are not safe doing their heretofore "household chores," ie fetching water from a nearby water source.
3. Women come to medical attention for traumatic fistula. Fistula is an injury normally caused by distress in childbirth. However, the cases that Dr. Mukwege has witnessed are caused by insertion of a gun, bottle or stick into the vagina or shooting a gun between the woman's legs. The brutality causes a rupture between the vagina, bladder and/or rectum and renders an uncontrollable leakage of fluids, secretions, urine or feces. Not easy to translate from Dr. Mukwege's French to the interpreter's English, but think about it.
Moved to tears, Eve read a quote from May 2006 film footage distributed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Dr. Mukwege said, "attacking the woman, the bearer of life, with this level of terror, I believe it has nothing to do with sexual desire. I think it's about destabilizing society, trying to destroy society and bring about its complete destruction."
Dr. Mukwege added that these acts of violence are a strategy of war. Affected women are faced with unwanted pregnancies, often shunned by their communities, unable to work or care for their families and divorced by their husbands. Entire families are displaced as they seek safe haven elsewhere. Dr. Mukwege described in further detail the way that violence against women is used as a weapon, which is further perpetuated because women cannot easily show where and how they are violated publicly. Women who do share their tales are stigmatized because they've been raped. Husbands are dishonored. The women are further stigmatized because they leak urine and feces and smell badly. The physical pain coupled with the psychological agony destroys these women and their families. Furthermore, these rapes pose a serious threat to public health and have led to an increase in HIV/AIDS which further destroys the individual and families.
As she looked out over the packed audience at NYU's Law School auditorium under the auspices of The Center for Global Affairs at NYU, Eve asked Dr. Mukwege how he is able to carry on with his work. "Simply filling the auditorium to learn about the DRC," said Dr. Mukwege, "makes me the happiest man alive." Met by a standing ovation from the audience, he told us how the Panzi hospital, through funding from international relief agencies, is merely a "band-aid" because what the doctors and psychologists repair today is destroyed tomorrow. To have laws is not enough. Laws need to be enforced, criminals need to be punished. "This war within a war in the DRC, where up to 4 million people have died since 1998 and 1200 individuals are killed daily, can only be remedied through a 'holistic' approach," he continued. Citing recent democratic elections in the DRC, Dr. Mukwege is hopeful for change. (In November 2006, Joseph Kabila was declared winner of October's run-off presidential election. The poll has the general approval of international monitors.) But as of now, no one is in place to protect these women and children. The soldiers are not accountable for their crimes. Health care professionals like Dr. Mukwege are not immune from violence either. Panzi hospital has been attacked more than once and the work of international relief workers is often interrupted by militia operations.
The discussion concluded with a long line of queries from audience members ranging in age from 17 to 70, centered on ways to volunteer and effect change.
So, dear reader, please try not to turn your head in fear, take this as a lesson. Add the Democratic Republic of Congo to the long list of countries whose 21st Century internal and cross cultural conflicts are so devastating and shocking that it's difficult for us to hear their cry. But add two names to the list of individuals whose selfless dedication is making a difference and improving the lives of women and girls in violent situations: Eve Ensler and Denis Mukwege.