The Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Essay by tengirlboltJunior High, 9th gradeA+, January 2007

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Since 1996, nearly four million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These tragedies evolve from several rebel armies that have a very important aspect in common: they target innocent people and they all use rape as a weapon of war. Although the civil war in Congo has only been going ongoing for five years, only recently has attention been drawn to the astounding number of rapes committed during the conflict. It is not known yet what the full repercussions will be as there is still no end in sight for this brutal war. Family's efforts to stay strong, women weakening by starvation, the statistics are shocking and will show the true issues that parts of the world have not been notified of.

For every women admitted for treatment, there are an estimated 30 more suffering similar injuries who stay in hiding, cannot commute to a health center, or are documented for being a rape victim(Of Our Backs, 1).

Death, starvation, and STDs and other diseases are now uncontrolled throughout the region. It is reported that up to 60 percent of soldiers are infected with HIV/AIDS(Of Our Backs, 1). 40 women were raped daily between October 2002 and February 2003( ). From this war three million to three point five million people have died. Since 1998 it's an estimate that hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped. These statistics are harsh and alarming to find out about when there is not knowledge of what is going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Women in Congo are fairly often raped in front of their husbands and children. The husbands or husbands' families then view the women as "contaminated", even when they don't contract a disease, and drive them and their children out of...