Today, I'm horrified to say, rape is being used as more than a sick prize for the victor. In rural villages of the Fizi Territory in the Democratic Republic of Congo, rape has been reinvented as a primary weapon of war.
If the war in Congo accelerates again, resulting in still more deaths added to the five million dead so far, the responsibility will fall on those who fail to act now, just as they had failed to act in 1994 to stop the genocide in Rwanda.
Through funding and pressure, the global community has a responsibility to the safety of those skilled and passionate people who are giving their lives to respectfully save others', including now, for Dr. Denis Mukwege.
How is it a country like the UK sits by and does nothing while one of their foremost aid recipients is accused of "aiding and abetting" crimes against humanity by the United Nations?
The revolution in Libya has overshadowed another scheduled event that promises an equally seismic effect on democracy in Africa - the Nov. 28 election...
As more women in developing nations are empowered to promote their own advancement and security, NGOs can't forget those who have the power to instantly change the treatment of women -- men.
You see, in many of the tribal languages in the region, there is not even a word for "rape." How can a woman heal from something that she cannot name? Once again, words failed us.
Turning a blind eye to egregious human rights abuses is a recipe for disaster. The UN Security Council, when discussing the protection of civilians in armed conflict, must hold perpetrators of these abuses accountable.
Information about human rights abuse is the key asset of human rights groups. The loss of this information is a problem with far-reaching implications.
Violence against women is a global epidemic affecting millions of women daily that presents debilitating obstacles to the development of women, their families and communities, and even their national economies.
Congolese president Joseph Kabila paved the way for a troupe of Spanish Clowns, while thugs and militia rule the Kivus and truth-seeking journalist are threatened.
It's an exciting idea for the State Department: give people the tools and they, like the protesters in Iran, will solve our foreign policy dilemmas. But will it work?
Murders, rapes and major internal displacement in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been linked to a number of multinational companies in a report...
Hundreds of thousands of people in the Congo region have been forced to flee from their homes - some many times - because men with guns have given them no choice. Others have been massacred, raped or tortured.
Headlines from Africa in 2008 recounted brutal riots in Kenya, a war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and election-driven chaos in Zimbabwe. But there was also good news.
I don't know if you saw the post from a couple weeks ago about when rangers at Congo's Virunga National Park, home to about 200 endangered mountain g...
The escalating violence in Congo had chased wildlife rangers deep into the wilderness weeks ago, and had long threatened to encroach upon the gorillas...
Fears are growing for the welfare of 39 wildlife rangers who were reportedly forced to flee into dense forest after their headquarters in eastern DR C...