When girls three years old and younger are brutally raped and sometimes left permanently damaged for the rest of their lives, impunity cannot be the answer. In a town called Kavumu, about 40 kilometers north of Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) young girls are facing a constant threat that they will be abducted in the night, raped, and returned to their families.
While the DRC has been referred to as “the rape capital of the world”, and rape has been used as a weapon of war by militias throughout the country, there is something different about these assaults on such young children.
As the Director of Policy and Programs at Jewish World Watch (JWW), part of my job is to visit our partner organizations operating in the DRC and meet new potential partners.
While in the DRC I met with Dr. Pascal Namegabe and Dr. Dennis Mukwege. Namegabe and Mukwege both have decided to forgo lucrative practices to help serve the community. Namegabe recently started New Hope for Congo, a small clinic in Kavumu that helps address the limited healthcare in the region and serve the much needed population of rape survivors. Mukwege founded the widely known and respected Panzi Hospital (a JWW partner organization) that is most commonly known for the treatment of survivors of sexual violence, especially those with complex obstetric fistula conditions.
At the New Hope for Congo clinic Dr. Namegabe told us about the constant stream of young girls he is treating. Trying to make sense of an incomprehensible act, I asked Dr. Pascal why these attacks were happening. He told us that many of the men were demobilized from various militias, but their trauma was never addressed and many of them have been seriously affected. Dr. Mukwege told us that while much attention is paid to the trauma these rebel groups cause, little attention is paid to the trauma rebels face themselves.
When militia groups are defeated, or individuals defect, they are often put through a process of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR). Often, the Ds are successful, men are disarmed and demobilized from their rebel group, but historically the process has failed to effectively reintegrate these men into society and treat their trauma. Many rebels who were abducted into militias as young children and forced to fight suffer serious psychosocial issues that unfortunately go unaddressed. Subjected to brainwashing and with limited education it is difficult for some rebels to think of a different narrative than the one they are given.
One of these narratives involves witchcraft or wizardry. Some of these men are told, and believe, that by raping a young child they will absorb their youth, making the attackers young and strong. Many of the rapists keep the bloody clothing after their attack as they believe they can further absorb their power.
I asked where the other men in the village were, the ones who aren’t raping young girls, and why they were not standing up against this violence. Both Dr. Mukwege and Namegabe had the same answer, “people are afraid.” People are afraid what will happen to them if they speak up. But while they are worrying about what may happen to them, they are ignoring what is currently happening, or what may happen to them tomorrow.
The police and army are absent, and corruption is endemic. There are instances where a perpetrator will be identified by the community and arrested, only to be released later because someone paid someone off. Even worse, sometimes the police and army, the very people paid to protect the population, are perpetrators of this violence. Dr. Namegabe told us that some members of the community have resorted to local dispute resolution methods. Sometimes after a rape occurs the rapist is made to pay some fee to the family, almost as restitution for their crime. However, what ends up happening is the practice almost reinforces the behavior, legitimizing the crime. By having the rapists pay for their actions and face no other penalty it is almost as if they are buying the ability to rape.
When sitting in his office, Dr. Mukwege told us about a young girl he recently treated. She was three years old when she was first brought to him; a survivor of a brutal assault including anal rape. He attempted to repair her damaged sphincter muscle, but the damage was so severe that she will likely be incontinent the rest of her life.
The damage these men are causing to these girls doesn’t only affect them physically or emotionally, the damage they are causing impacts whole communities for generations. The cycle of violence must stop. More can be done to hold the Congolese government accountable for their laissez-faire attitude to militia and sexual violence. There needs to be more oversight of the police, the justice system, and the army and an end to corruption at all levels.
While Dr. Mukwege and Dr. Namegabe are undertaking a herculean task of repairing the women who have survived these assaults, more needs to be done to prevent these attacks from happening in the first place. JWW will continue to stand with our partners in eastern Congo and encourage the United States and international community to both pressure the Congolese government and help provide them with the necessary tools to combat the violence, corruption, and lack of rule of law that is plaguing the country.