Democratic Republic of Congo: 1100 Women Raped Each Day

[tishaLA]

More than 1,100 women are raped every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), making sexual violence against women 26 times more common than previously thought, a study concluded Wednesday.

More than 400,000 women and girls between the ages of 15 to 49 were raped in the vast, war-ravaged country in central Africa during a 12-month period in 2006 and 2007, according to the study published in the American Journal of Public Health. That is 26 times more than the 15,000 women that the United Nations has reported were raped there during the same 12 months.


"Our results confirm that previous estimates of rape and sexual violence are severe underestimates of the true prevalence of sexual violence occurring in the DRC," said Amber Peterman, lead author of the study.

"Even these new, much higher figures still represent a conservative estimate of the true prevalence of sexual violence because of chronic underreporting due to stigma, shame, perceived impunity, and exclusion of younger and older age groups as well as men," she said. France 24

[fascisthunter]

1. according to some, it's partially a women's fault

I bet the rapists there would agree.

[Quantess]

3. Those women need to stop dressing provocatively.

What do they wear over there? I bet they all dress like hookers. Obviously, they must have really slutty looking outfits in Africa.

[Adsos Letter]

2. Disgusting. Did the US provide support to the previous regime?

And are we providing support to the new one?

Wasn't the UN just recently involved in helping the new president claim his office? Where is the UN on this rape issue?

[applegrove]

8. The US was responsible for Mobuto being in power for 30 years. He fleeced the country

in that time.

[Adsos Letter]

14. Ah, thanks for the info. I confused the DRC with Ivory Coast

hence my reference to the UN.

[uppityperson]

4. k&r

[niyad]

5. k and r--I guess women being brutalized by the tens of thousands isn't nearly as important as oil

and natural gas.

I don't hear any talk about going in and protecting the women, and stopping this horror.

[Spinny Liberal]

6. If there was something there

that the US wanted like oil, they'd care a lot more.

[Odin2005]

13. Congolese cobalt goes in all our electronic gadgets.

[Spinny Liberal]

15. Wow didn't know that

I think the black gold will always get priority, though.

[Solly Mack]

7. K&R

[one_voice]

9. HBO did a documentary..

called The Greatest Silence http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/the-greatest-silence-rape-in-the-congo/index.html there is no one word to describe what the women/girls live with over there. Gut wrenching, appalling, heartbreaking, outrage, sickening..etc.

If you haven't seen it, and have a chance you should watch. Warning it's not easy to watch...

[Liquorice]

10. That is beyond horrific. Something has to be done to stop the

maniac men doing this.

[Leopolds Ghost]

11. And Yet We Are In Libya. n/t

[Odin2005]

12. Why the fuck is this ongoing HORROR in Congo getting NO media attention at all?

:grr: