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Rape Capital of the World

The eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo has became know as the "rape capital of the world" where hundred of thousands of women have been raped and tortured by various militias active in the region but also by regular Congolese Army troopers. There have been two major wars and several rebellions since the mid-1990s in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The fighting and damage to basic services has claimed millions of lives. The conflict has also generated extreme levels of sexual violence. Most of it goes unpunished. Mama Masika, herself a victim of rape, has opened an orphanage sheltering children born from rape. SOUNDBITE (Local language) Mama Masika runs an orphanage for children born from rape: "They started raping me. There were 10 of them, I know because I was counting them. I could hear my children crying: "Mama they are beating us." It was awful. Then I thought, these people have killed my husband. I'd better cooperate. After that, I lost consciousness and I woke up in the hospital. The rape has been used as a weapon of war since it usually breaks an entire family. SOUNDBITE (English), Salomé Ntububu, Regional Emergency Manager for Central Africa, Christian Aid "In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the woman is the one who keeps the family. And when the woman was raped sometimes she has to live the village, go in another place. And then this whole family will suffer because women are the ones who support the whole household. " The victims not only have to deal with physical and psychological trauma, but they often rejected by their families and stigmatized by society. SOUNDBITE (English), Ida Sawyer, Human Rights Watch -- DRC "When women are raped they are often rejected by their families, their husbands kick them out of their homes. Often other members of the community stigmatize them. SOUNDBITE (Local Language), Survivor #1 "I was going to the field and I met three soldiers, and they raped me. They told me if I cried out, they would kill me. My family was angry. They said: "You could have run." Did you go to the police? Police? No." The culture of rape is widely spread among men fighting in all armed groups. SOUNDBITE (Local Language), Perpetrator #1 "If I had a sexual urge, then I would rape until I was satisfied. Afterwards I would feel calm, but if I still needed sex, I would find another girl and rape her." According to OCHA, at the end of 2013, 2.9 million people were displaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo SOUNDBITE (Local Language), Survivor #2 "Two soldiers entered the room where I was sleeping and raped me. When my brother shouted at them, he was shot with bullets until he died. They killed him like that, and then they dirtied me like that." Many perpetrators of rape live alongside survivors of rape in displacement camps. SOUNDBITE (Local Language), Perpetrator #2 "I've raped a lot of women. I've raped over 50, sticking a gun knife between their legs, and whipping them with wires." Impunity helps drive the horrific levels of sexual violence. SOUNDBITE (Local Language), Perpetrator #1 "It was our commandant who gave us orders to bring him a girl. If I saw a beautiful girl I was sexually attracted to, I raped her before bringing her back to the commandant." So far, only three perpetrators have been convicted for rape. All of them of the low rank or ordinary soldiers. SOUNDBITE (English), Ida Sawyer, Human Rights Watch -- DRC "In the past few years we've seen an increase in the number of prosecutions for rape cases but the vast majority of these prosecutions are for lower level soldiers or civilians but very rarely have we seen senior army officers or senior level rebel commanders prosecuted for rape." Since 1996, conflict in DR Congo has claimed 4 million lives -- largest bloodbath since the World War II. SOUNDBITE (Local Language), Colonel Mamadou Ndala, National Army of Congo: "When I asked another commandant why there was a problem with sexual violence, he said that the witch doctors are giving advice about how not to get shot. They say if a soldier rapes a nine-year-old virgin, and if he gets blood from the hymen adds some other medicine and puts it on his body, the bullet won't enter." The only way to put an end to war on women is to end impunity for rape, and hold high ranking officers accountable for behavior of soldiers under their command. Until then, the eastern DRC remains the worst place in the world to be a woman. SOUNDBITE (Local language) Mama Masika runs an orphanage for children born from rape: "Everyone rapes. Civilians, even police, even pastors. Everyone rapes." In 2011 study published in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that as many as 1.8 million women in the country had been raped at some point in their lives, roughly one rape every minute.