Washington Post Opinion Piece Calls For Action Against Sexual Violence In Congo

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 16 Dec 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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In a Washington Post opinion piece, documentary filmmaker Mary Lou Hartman discusses the "unfathomable violence that is being unleashed against the women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo" and calls for the passage of two federal bills that could reduce funds available to groups that perpetuate sexual violence in the nation.

"Despite international attention, including visits from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and [United Nations] officials, and a recent '60 Minutes' report, Congo remains the most dangerous place on Earth for girls and women," Hartman says. According to a recent U.N. report, in the first six months of 2009, there were "close to 7,000 victims of sexual violence in Congo, a number that "does not include "the women who do not live to tell their tales of assault, or those who are too ill, too ashamed or too afraid to come forward." Hartman continues, "In some cases, women and girls, butchered from the inside out, suffer from traumatic gynecologic fistula," meaning that the "tissue between the vagina and the bladder and/or rectum is torn, causing them, among other things, to live in a constant state of filth from their own feces and urine."

Hartman writes that the recent U.N. report "paints a devastating picture of complicity among the Congolese Army, rebel groups and neighboring forces in Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania," as well as foreign governments and business with an interest in the country's natural resources. "Trying to decipher all of it is overwhelming, but that is no excuse for inaction," she continues, adding, "There is nothing morally complicated about mass rape." Hartman writes that a House bill (HR 4128) introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) and a Senate bill (S 891) introduced by Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) "would help to make the conflict-minerals market more transparent and thereby undercut the funding of the groups who are destroying Congolese women." She calls on readers to "[s]tart a letter campaign, demand conflict-free products, contribute to the training of Congolese counselors" or "[s]ponsor a woman who suffers from traumatic fistula, and cover the cost of an operation to repair the damage." She concludes, "Do something, anything, because to do nothing in the face of evil cannot be an option" (Hartman, Washington Post, 12/12).

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