Clinton, please keep the spotlight on the women of Congo

Posted By P.J. Aroon Thursday, May 13, 2010 - 5:42 PM Share

I know Secretary Clinton is busy today with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, but I hope she continues to shine a spotlight on the rape capital of the world -- the Kivu provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Last summer, Clinton boldly defied security advice and flew to Goma, the epicenter of the region where rape has been used as a weapon of war, as I wrote last August. Tears welled up in her eyes as women told her their horrific stories, like that of the woman who was raped while pregnant and lost her baby. Many of these women, like those in the photo above, have been raped so viciously that they must undergo surgery to repair the damage.

So, I was disturbed to receive this message from a representative of the UNHCR (U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees):

In the first three months of 2010 more than 1,200 women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were sexually assaulted - an average of 14 assaults a day. The majority of the violence is taking place in North and South Kivu provinces in eastern DRC. The region hosts some 1.4 million people displaced by on-going violence in the country. Some 100,000 are living in camps run by the UN refugee agency. UNHCR is alarmed at the scale of the sexual violence and the lack of justice for the victims and is working to protect vulnerable women. 

I know Clinton cares, so I hope she'll use her position to help bring an end to this barbaric violence.

ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images

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