Democratic Republic of the Congo
Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to face widespread sexual violence, disease, and displacement in conflict situations arising from clashes between dozens of armed groups. Often, sexual violence and rape are used as terror tactics and weapons of war, and despite the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Women’s Platform for the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework, women are still largely underrepresented in peacebuilding efforts. Additionally, women activists face rape as a form of torture by government actors who disagree with their political activity. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) aims to provide protection for civilians, including reducing the threat of armed groups perpetrating sexual and gender-based violence, monitoring and reporting on sexual violence and ensuring women’s participation in stabilization and national political dialogue.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to face widespread sexual violence, disease, and displacement in conflict situations arising from clashes between dozens of armed groups. Often, sexual violence and rape are used as terror tactics and weapons of war, and despite the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Women’s Platform for the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework, women are still largely underrepresented in peacebuilding efforts.
Additionally, women activists face rape as a form of torture by government actors who disagree with their political activity. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) aims to provide protection for civilians, including reducing the threat of armed groups perpetrating sexual and gender-based violence, monitoring and reporting on sexual violence and ensuring women’s participation in stabilization and national political dialogue.
Current and Past Recommendations to the UN Security Council (Monthly Action Points)
Democratic Republic of the Congo (November 2012)
The Security Council is expected to renew and extend the mandate of the Group of Experts (GoE) on DRC sanctions. The Council should ensure that, per SCR 1952 (2010) (OP 13), the UN mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) is sharing all relevant information with the GoE, especially information on violations of women’s human rights, and highlight the links between the illicit flow of small arms and light weapons and the occurrence of sexual and gender-based violence. The Security Council is expected to consider MONUSCO’s report, which will include information on SSR, elections support, and DDR, which in previous reports have not included requisite women, peace and security analysis. The Council should enquire as to any such gaps in the current report, particularly as the Council will be discussing benchmarks for measuring progress in the areas of SSR and DDR.
Relevant Resources
