News | Sexual Violence
| Rwandan Rebel Leader Faces ICC on War Crimes Charges | |
VOA News - September 16, 2011 | |
 | A former Rwandan rebel leader has appeared before the International Criminal Court facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, told The Hague court that Mbarushimana represented the “respectable public face” of the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu rebel group that attacked civilians in Congo's North and South Kivu provinces in 2009. |
| Rape study 'questionable' | |
BBC News - May 18, 2011 | |
 | A new study on rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo is based on out-of-date and questionable figures, a Swedish academic has told the BBC. Ms Eriksson Baaz, a researcher on women's rights in DR Congo from the University of Gothenburg, says extrapolations made in the study cannot be backed up scientifically. |
| Germany: Groundbreaking Trial for Congo War Crimes | |
Human Rights Watch - May 2, 2011 | |
 | The trial of two Rwandan rebel leaders arrested in Germany for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo makes the world a smaller place for suspected war criminals, Human Rights Watch said today. |
| Plight of the Congo Is Focus of U.S. Congress Hearing | |
chrissmith.house.gov - March 8, 2011 | |
 | The tragedy and hopes for peace in the Congo was the focus of a hearing held today by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House Africa, Global Health and Human Rights Subcommittee. Actor Ben Affleck testified about the work of the Eastern Congo Initiative, including his travel to the DRC. |
| Army colonel gets 20 years for ordering mass rape in eastern Congo | |
Congo News Agency - February 21, 2011 | |
 | An army colonel accused of ordering the mass rape of at least 49 women in eastern Congo has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. A military court in eastern Congo also sentenced three officers serving under his command to 20 years and five soldiers to between 10 and 15 years. |
| Women March against Sexual Violence in Eastern Congo | |
Congo News Agency - October 17, 2010 | |
| First Lady Olive Lembe Kabila led a march by thousands of women through the streets of Bukavu, in eastern Congo, on Sunday. They were marching against the sexual violence – and violence in general – that has plagued the region, where rape has been used as a weapon of war by armed groups for years. |
| Congo Defense Minister Rejects UN Allegations against Army | |
Congo News Agency - October 17, 2010 | |
 | During a press conference held in Kinshasa on Saturday, Defence Minister Charles Mwando Nsimba expressed outrage at the remarks made by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallström, before the UN Security Council on Thursday. |
| Rebel leader presumed responsible for mass rape arrested | |
UN News - October 5, 2010 | |
 | United Nations peacekeepers and Government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo today seized one of the rebel leaders suspected of being behind the mass rape of more than 300 civilians two months ago in the country’s east. |
| UN releases D.R. Congo report listing 10 years of atrocities, identifying justice options | |
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - October 1, 2010 | |
 | The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released Friday a 550-page report listing 617 of the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law over a ten-year period by both state and non-state actors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. |
| UN says peacekeepers 'failed' DR Congo rape victims | |
BBC News - September 7, 2010 | |
 | UN peacekeepers have "failed" the victims of mass rape in eastern DR Congo, a senior UN official has said. Atul Khare told the Security Council that the scale of systematic rape by armed rebels was far worse than feared. Atul Khare told the Security Council that the scale of systematic rape by armed rebels was far worse than feared. |
