Rape as Weapon of War in the Congo Becomes Rape as Cultural Norm

by Aimee Sea · 2010-07-15 10:49:00 UTC
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There's been a lot written about the use of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative has found a 17-fold increase in the number of civilian rapes. Rape as war has become rape as culture. Nicholas Kristoff has written about this in Liberia, and now it's happening in the Congo.

Researchers surveyed over 4,000 women who sought treatment at one of the hospitals in the Eastern part of Congo, the ground zero of rape. They found that while war rapes were declining, civilian rapes had increased dramatically: 17-fold. Not doubled, nor tripled, nor even quadrupled, but increased 17-fold. We don't even have a special word for that sharp an increase.

The researchers speculate that the increase is the result of men who have left rebel groups, but have not given up their war raping ways, and a general cultural acceptance of sexual violence. As a former United Nations official explained, violence societies beget violent societies and this won't be corrected in a single generation.

What can we do to help? For starters, we can help ensure that we're not funding these wars and rapes when we buy our tech toys. Alex DiBranco wrote about the connenction between your iPod and the violence in the Congo and urged you to sign a petition asking Apple to guarantee its devices are not made with conflict minerals. PC users, you're not off the hook either.

That's why we should all write to our representatives to ask them to cosponsor H.R. 4128, The Conflict Minerals and Trade Act, and urge our senators to support S.891, The Congo Conflict Minerals Act. If passed, the legislation would have electronic companies declare whether or not their products are conflict free, similar to the Kimberley Process used to eliminate the sale of blood diamonds.

The violence doesn't end with the peace agreements. We're funding this violence, and our tech companies are profiting from the suffering and the misogyny in the Congo. That has to stop.

Photo credit: Julian Harneis

Aimee Sea is a proud New Englander who blogs about global women's rights and whatever else happens to catch her eye.
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