Peace)
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By Swanee Hunt
29 December 2005
The Boston Globe
The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo officially ended in 2002, but the
atrocities continue. Since 1998, nearly 4 million people have died, not only as
a result of violence but also from disease and famine triggered by war. Every 24
hours means another 1,000 senseless deaths, largely ignored by the world.
Donor governments, including the United States, provide more than half the
budget of the transitional government that took charge after the war. However,
many government members are former warlords who will do anything to maintain
power. They struggle with each other for Congo’s rich natural resources and
control thousands of militiamen roaming the countryside.
Political instability poses long-term consequences for citizens of Congo,
particularly women, with militia gangs posing daily threats to their safety.
Human Rights Watch reports that that many Congolese women and girls have been
raped by men on all sides of the conflict. Despite the 2002 peace agreement,
sexual violence as a weapon of war persists. Amnesty International reports
widespread genital mutilation with sticks, knives, and even gunfire. Gang rapes
and forced incest are rampant.
Most survivors are vulnerable economically — often their tools, clothing,
and homes were either stolen or destroyed during the attack. Physical trauma
often means chronic infections, and emotional trauma leaves many too afraid to
work the fields or travel to school. Their fear is well founded, for rapists
attack with impunity. According to Human Rights Watch, only about half a dozen
offenders had been tried as of March.
Even international assistance intended to help has sometimes added to women’s
vulnerability. This spring, the United Nations was castigated for allowing its
peacekeeping troops there to use food to buy sex from hungry girls. Despite the
fact that women bear the brunt of violence, competent Congolese women leaders
have been shut out of governance by men who battle over natural resources and
control of militias. Monique Kandy, a founding member of the Congolese Women’s
Caucus, which insisted on equal rights in the transitional constitution, says
women are untapped resources for achieving ”inclusive security.”
In conflicts throughout Africa, women have helped stabilize regions plagued
by warfare. Rwandan women help lead the gacaca court system prosecuting war
criminals since the 1994 genocide. Additionally, the Rwandan local and national
governments have been structured to ensure significant participation by women
because they are perceived to be less corruptible than men and are not tarnished
by the genocide. (Only 3 percent of those accused of participating in the
Rwandan genocide are women.)
Many nations in Africa — including Botswana, Cameroon, Somalia, South
Africa, and Sudan — employ affirmative measures, such as set-asides, to ensure
women are represented in government. In Congo, several laws will be discussed in
the coming months that could guarantee greater representation for women.
Congolese voted overwhelmingly Dec. 18 to adopt a new constitution aimed at
paving the way for national elections by the end of June 2006 and that instructs
the new government to ”guarantee the establishment of equal representation
between women and men in state institutions.” Nothing is said, however, about a
time frame for this goal and many women’s organizations say the language is too
vague. An electoral law, which is currently being debated in parliament, is
silent on women’s representation: a clause guaranteeing 30 percent of spaces on
the electoral lists was removed several weeks ago. It should be returned to the
text.
Long-term stabilization requires coordinated, wide-ranging disarmament and
integration efforts that involve all stakeholders, men and women. A critical
first step is disempowering militias. ”Security sector” reform was agreed to in
the peace agreement in 2002, but it is moving at a snail’s pace. The militiamen
must be disarmed and demobilized far more quickly than they are now, then sent
to school, employed, or integrated into the new Congolese army or police force.
Demobilization and disarmament have been undertaken without sufficient
involvement of women leaders and attention to women’s needs. It is unlikely that
the transitional government will undertake this process willingly, so donor
governments must apply significant pressure to ensure the transitional peace
process is taken more seriously.
In March, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared, ”[We] send a
clear message to the women of the world who are not yet free. As you stand for
your rights and for your liberty, America stands with you.” The United States
should fulfill that commitment and stand with the women of Congo, for the sake
of that country and the continent.
Swanee Hunt, who serves on the board of the International Crisis Group,
directs the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of
Government and is author of “This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming the
Peace.”
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