IMPUNITY OF PERPETRATORS OF VIOLENT CRIMES, ROOT OF CONTINUATION OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

English translation by community member LightMyWay.

Several appeals have unquestionably been submitted to the UN Security Council to consider rape as a crime against humanity. At the national level, Congolese women have led several actions so that our country’s legal instruments might put a law into place that will sanction rape and all other types of gender-based violence. The law called No 006 2002 was then voted in by the National Assembly.

Unfortunately, the law is one thing and its application another entirely. The two aspects need to evolve as a pair; however, to our great regret, despite the existence of all these laws, rapists continue to walk around like they own the place in the very places they have committed their heinous crimes, and in broad daylight too. These attitudes are extremely accentuated acts of humiliation for the victims of these vile acts.

In one particular case, an organization tasked with the defense of human rights in Katanga province condemned a rape case in Bukama locality concerning a little four-year-old girl raped by an adult male whose age was not released. Since then, the alleged rapist has walked free, undisturbed by anyone.

Many similar cases are occurring in the North Kivu, South Kivu, and Eastern provinces, which are never even considered by legal authorities.

We believe that women and young girls are never objects by any means. It is high time that justice is done. It is high time that the rights of Congolese women are restored; it is time to crack down on the injustices that are done to women every day. It is high time that the UN Security Council get involved by eradicating wars and impunity.

Madeleine