KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, together with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura, are on a joint visit to the DRC to deepen political commitment in the fight against sexual violence in the country.
Ms. Bangura and Dr. Osotimehin participated in the launch of a report on the scale of sexual violence in the DRC between 2011 and 2012, prepared by the Ministry of Gender with support from UNFPA.
According to the report, in 2012 alone there were 15,654 reported cases of sexual violence – a 52 per cent increase from 2011. Of these, 98 per cent were perpetrated against females.
In conflict-affected areas of the country, the picture is bleaker. The average age of survivors of sexual violence is 21 or younger, and a third of all survivors are aged between 12 and 17. In 2012, 82 per cent of all survivors had not completed primary school.
“Sexual Violence is not inevitable,” said Dr. Osotimehin. “Its economic and human costs on communities and countries are tremendous and we must commit ourselves to work together towards the elimination of sexual violence in DRC.”
“One of the things we have to understand is that gender-based violence is about the status of women in our society. We can only raise their status if we address the issue of girls staying in school so that they can determine what their lives are going to be,” he said.
The visit also took stock of the progress made on the implementation of the National Strategy on Gender-Based Violence to follow up on the implementation of the Joint Communiqué signed by the Government and the United Nations to tackle conflict-related sexual violence in the DRC.
“The DRC has made great strides in developing the framework necessary to combat sexual violence in conflict,” said Ms. Bangura, “and we are here to deepen our engagement and ensure that the UN is providing coordinated, targeted and survivor-centred support to best meet the challenges on the ground.”