Image credits: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/12/a_new_year_rolls_in.html
For most people around the world, more so in cities such as KL, Singapore, Sydney, London and elsewhere – many ushered in 2011 with a big bang! There were exuberant celebrations on the streets and the skies lit up with fireworks that dazzle and delight as the above pictures show.
Amidst the revelry, one can still find pockets of suffering and adversity, even on this special day. One shocking event was the report by Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) that their workers at the international emergency medical aid organization had treated victims of mass rape on New Year's Day in the Democratic Republic of Congo – formerly called Zaire (Webpage http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/07/congo-women-raped-beaten).
According to the United Nations, rape is often used as a weapon of war here. Some 15,000 women were raped in the eastern portion of the country in 2009, and the UN has named the DRC "rape capital of the world." Often during this type of assault, the victim's children or spouse are forced to watch.
This was not an isolated incident. It has happened before and many times too. In fact, in September, a UN report confirmed the rape of at least 240 people between July 30 and August 04 in the Walikale region of Congo's North Kivu province. The reported victims in previous attacks ranged from a month-old baby boy to a 110-year-old woman. Survivors have accused the FDLR rebel group – which is led by perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide who fled to Congo – along with Congolese Mai-Mai militia.
Amidst the revelry, one can still find pockets of suffering and adversity, even on this special day. One shocking event was the report by Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) that their workers at the international emergency medical aid organization had treated victims of mass rape on New Year's Day in the Democratic Republic of Congo – formerly called Zaire (Webpage http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/07/congo-women-raped-beaten).
According to the United Nations, rape is often used as a weapon of war here. Some 15,000 women were raped in the eastern portion of the country in 2009, and the UN has named the DRC "rape capital of the world." Often during this type of assault, the victim's children or spouse are forced to watch.
This was not an isolated incident. It has happened before and many times too. In fact, in September, a UN report confirmed the rape of at least 240 people between July 30 and August 04 in the Walikale region of Congo's North Kivu province. The reported victims in previous attacks ranged from a month-old baby boy to a 110-year-old woman. Survivors have accused the FDLR rebel group – which is led by perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide who fled to Congo – along with Congolese Mai-Mai militia.
For years now, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, marauding bands of soldiers and militias have been waging a war of rape and mutilation against women. This sustained campaign of horrific atrocities, mostly in the eastern part of the country, has been going on since the 1990s.
Photo credit: http://allisonkilkenny.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/drc_civil_war_congo1.jpg?w=300
Photo credit: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/the-rape-epidemic-at-the-heart-of-congos-darkness/2007/10/07/1191695742001.html
Photo credit:http://www.socialdoc.net/magnus/2007/11/20/blue-berets-les-deshonneur-des-casques-bleus/
More disturbingly, Médecins Sans Frontières said there is no sign that the security situation is improving. In 2009 alone, the agency provided medical and psycho-social care for 5,600 rape victims in North and South Kivu.
This is a sad reflection of the state of the world today. But what is even sadder is that the world, for the most part, has remained indifferent to their plight.
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George Eliot did say: "Deep unspeakable suffering may well be called a baptism, a regeneration, the initiation into a new state". For these women, it is likely to be a state of despair and anguish and pain. Of resignation. Of surrender. Of hopelessness.
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