VDay Spotlight Campaign:
Democratic Republic of Congo
International VDay site for the DRC: http://drc.vday.org/
Every day women in the DRC are facing horrific violence and sexual abuse. Yet, so many have bravely fought and given a voice to the conflict they face. A portion of the funds raised by each VDay event worldwide will be used to help build The City of Joy... which will serve as a refuge / medical facility for women and families affected by the terror and violence faced by the DRC today.
This project represents a collaboration between VDay, Unicef, Congolese community members, and doctors/activists on the ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
We honor these women and girls of the Congo.
Our hearts are with them.
Background on the DRC Campaign:
[from the global VDay site] The atrocities being perpetrated against women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are nothing less than a femicide – the systematic destruction of the Congolese female population. Since 1996, sexual violence against women and girls in the Eastern DRC has been used as a weapon of war to torture, humiliate and destroy not only women and girls, but entire families and whole communities. Since the conflict began, hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped. Advocates from the region have told stories of unthinkable atrocities that are taking place, including cannibalism, chopping off body parts, rape with tools and weapons, and sexual assault of minors as young as 10 months and elders as old as 87 years. Many members of the female population within the region have endured sexual slavery, kidnapping, unlawful detention, recruitment of young girls into armed forces, and forced prostitution.
As before the war, discrimination against women and girls underlies the violence perpetrated against them. The current climate of impunity allows sexual violence to flourish.
In December 2006, Eve Ensler interviewed Dr. Denis Mukwege, head of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, DRC, about conditions in Eastern DRC. Panzi Hospital is presently the only referral hospital in North and South Kivu available to meet the high demand for services for women victims of sexual violence and fistula treatment.
In May 2007, UNICEF hosted Eve’s visit to Panzi Hospital in Bukavu and the HEAL Africa Hospital in Goma. The violence perpetrated against women there, and scale of damage that Eve saw firsthand was so horrific that V-Day decided to initiate a two to five year public education and action campaign on the DRC, mobilizing UNICEF as a partner in the effort.
Shortly after, in August 2007, V-Day and UNICEF (in partnership with UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict,) launched Stop Raping our Greatest Resource: Power to Women of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a global campaign.
