War on Women
Rape and impunity in the Democratic Republic of Congo


Director: Dearbhla Glynn
Producer: IRIN Films, Obinna Anyadike & Charlotte Cans
Duration: 15 minutes
Date: March 2014


Blurb:
War on Women explores the causes of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with gripping testimonies from both survivors and perpetrators and insight from analysts and civil society activists. Impunity helps drive the horrific levels of sexual violence in DRC, where it is more than simply a weapon of war. "Even pastors rape," as one activist says.

Transcript

TITLE:
War on Women
Subtitle: Rape and impunity in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Slate 1:
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.

Slate 2:
The conflict has also generated extreme levels of sexual violence. Most of it goes unpunished.


Perpetrator 1, anonymous (local language, 16 sec)
By the age of twelve I had already raped two girls. Two little girls. They were very young girls. Ten years old, nine years old.

Mama Masika, Runs an orphanage for children born from rape (local language, 10 sec)
Everyone rapes. It's civilians, even police, even pastors. Everyone rapes.

Ident: Goma prison

Slate 3:
A quarter of the prisoners have been convicted or charged with rape.
Source: Justice minister for North Kivu Province, Christophe Ndibeshe, January 2014


Ida Sawyer
Human Rights Watch - DRC
(in English, 28 sec)
In Congo there continues to be alarming levels of sexual violence and it continues to be so despite increased international attention to the issue. 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.


G. Muhindo Misonia, CREDDHO
(in French, 17 sec)
The main reason that sexual violence continues in the North Kivu is impunity. Some perpetrators are arrested but they are not prosecuted. Their trials never come through.

Parmi les causes profondes de violence sexuelle au Nord Kivu il y a la question de l'impunité. Plusieurs auteurs de violence sexuelle, les uns sont parfois arrêtés et ils ne sont pas jugés. Donc il y a des procès qui ne finissent pas.


Salomé Ntububu
Regional Emergency Manager for Central Africa, Christian Aid
(in English, 18 sec)
We have a law. And this law is quite strong: in case of rape we have to stay in prison for 25 years. The law is there, but is it applied?
 
Colonel Mamadou Ndala
National Army of Congo
(in French, 34 sec)
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.

J'avais demandé à un commandant qui est venu dans les groups armés "comment est ce que beaucoup de vos homes sont en train de faire des violences sexuelles?". C'est suite aux conseils des féticheurs. Un féticheur lui dit: "je vais te donner un médicament contre la balle. Pour que cette balle ne te tranche pas tu vas aller chercher une petite fille de 9 ans, tu vas la dé-vierger et tu prendras le sang qui va sortir de son sexe, tu vas l'ajouter aux produits que je t'ai donné, tu vas mettre ça sur ton corps et tu seras impénétrable face à la balle.



Perpetrator 2, anonymous
(in local language, 9 sec)
With regards to sexual violence, I've seen many acts of violence and I've committed many violent acts.

Mama Masika
Runs an orphanage for children born from rape
(local language, 46 sec)
I was naked. 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.

Perpetrator 2, anonymous
(in local language, 13 sec)
When I heard on the radio that rape is a crime and that the soldiers of Congo  were raping their own people, I felt so guilty, I realized that what I was doing was wrong.


Colonel Mamadou Ndala
National Army of Congo
(in French, 18 sec)
As the National Army of Congo, it is our duty and responsibility to push out foreign rebel groups who are bringing terror to the population, and to create security in order to wipe out this phenomenon of sexual violence.

Nous en tant qu'Armée nationale congolaise, c'est de notre devoir, de notre responsabilité de pousser tous ces groups armés qui sont en train de faire cette terreur à notre population et enfin établir vraiment un espace de sécurité pour exterminer totalement ce phénomène de violence sexuelle.


G. Muhindo Misonia, CREDDHO
(in French, 31 sec)
There is also another big problem with the Congolese justice system. Because the country is so huge, it's hard to have a tribunal near where the victim lives. So women who have been raped need to travel tens of kilometres to go and report the crime. But as they live day to day, as they must work the land to provide food for their families, they believe that it is better to keep their silence instead of walking all this distance to report the crime and the perpetrator of the sexual violence.


« Il y a aussi tout un problème du système judiciaire congolais. Le pays qui est trop trop grand ça peut être difficile d'avoir un tribunal à côté des justiciables. Ce problème aussi se pose où y'a des femmes violées : elles doivent parcourir des kilomètres pour aller porter plainte. Alors qu'elles vivent au jour le jour, elles doivent cultiver pour nourrir leur famille, elles se disent que mieux vaut se taire et garder silence au lieu d'effectuer des dizaines de kilomètres pour aller porter plainte contre les auteurs des violences sexuelles. »


Salomé Ntububu
Regional Emergency Manager for Central Africa, Christian Aid
(in English, 23 sec)
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.
How many police do we have in these areas ? There are still very very few...

 
Old woman in the field, anonymous
(In French, 30 sec)
You can eat this. You can come to the field and leave with something for the children to eat. The men could do this, but normally they don't. This is reserved for the women. If they get attacked in the field and are afraid to come here anymore, that means total poverty. The women who come to the fields, they are the mothers of the house. They are the widows, the wives, the mothers of the children. The fields are where the hope of the family is. That is serious.

Ca, ça se mange. Donc tu peux venir au champ tu partiras avec quelque chose à manger pour les enfants. Ils peuvent sarcler mais souvent les homes ne font pas ça; c'est réservé à la femme! Maintenant si on t'attrapes ici au champ, tu délaisses les champs, maintenant c'est la pauvreté totale. Les mamans qui vont au champ sont des mamans de la maison, des veuves, des femmes mariées, des mères des enfants. C'est là (dans le champ) que se trouve l'espoir de la famille. C'est grave.

Survivor 1, anonymous
(in local language, 20 sec)
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.

(off) Ida Sawyer
Human Rights Watch - DRC
(in English, 9 sec)
"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.

Slate:
2.9 million people are displaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Source: UNOCHA, December 2013

Slate:
Many perpetrators of rape live alongside survivors of rape in displacement camps.


Perpetrator 3, anonymous
(in local language, 15 sec)
I sleep outside with other people in the camp. I have no family, no home. I left the M23 rebel group, and now I am a refugee of war.

Perpetrator 3, anonymous
(in local language, 9 sec)
When we were children we were brainwashed, with ideas of getting power if we joined the rebellion, so we joined.

Mother, anonymous
(in local language, 26 sec)
I could hear everything. Everything. They started by beating her.
What could I do? I wish she could get work, but she has no strength for farming. She has no  education. We have no one to help her get a job. I worry about her.

Girl, survivor of rape, anonymous
(in local language, 8 sec)
I don't have hope anymore, because they've destroyed my dignity.

Perpetrator 1, anonymous
(in local language, 11 sec)
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.

Perpetrator 3, anonymous
(in local language, 33 sec)
We raped because we were ordered to by our commandant.
- Why?
- So we could eat and get sexual satisfaction. He said raping and stealing would reduce our stress. Our lives were misery. We needed it. We felt better. We became addicted to it and we couldn't stop while in the bush.

Perpetrator 1, anonymous
(in local language, 11 sec)
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.

Young woman, survivor of rape, anonymous
(in local language, 30 sec)
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.
When I was tested in the hospital, they found I was sick. They found that I had HIV. I want to take a knife and kill myself. There is no one to help me now.


Perpetrator 1, anonymous
(in local language, 19 sec)
I did it because of my suffering. I had no job and no money. It's too late for an education. I have nothing to support myself. When I farmed, thieves stole my harvest, so I joined the rebels and I raped those girls.

Perpetrator 3, anonymous
(in local language, 13 sec)
I've raped a lot of women. I've raped over 50, sticking a gun knife between their legs, and whipping them with wires.

Perpetrator 1, anonymous
(in local language, 11 sec)
I don't know if I have a child or not. I would rape one woman, and then I'd go on and rape another one.

Perpetrator 2, anonymous
(in local language, 32 sec)
I would ask the Congo government to teach the army of Congo to respect women inside and outside the camps, and also to teach that it is wrong to abuse their own people, Congolese and any other people living here, because rape is not humane. And I admit what I did was wrong.


ENDS.

Credits:

Directed and filmed by
Dearbhla Glynn

Produced by IRIN Films

Edited by Anna Maria O'Flanagan

Additional editing by Adrian Bret

Production coordination by Ilot Muthaka
 
Music Supervision by Sarah Glennane and Aidan Kavanagh


Translation by Odette Reidy

Facilitated by
Congo Men's Network, Goma, DRC.

Luachra Productions


Music:

Sending Armada's
Composed by Thomas Haugh & Kevin Murphy
Performed by Hulk

Ice Weaving
Composed & Performed by Stephen Shannon & Thomas Haugh 

Mend What Sails Were Torn
Composed by Stephen Shannon & John Lambert
Performed by Strands & Chequerboard

Sugar to Sea Lion
Composed by Kevin Murphy & Thomas Haugh
Performed by Seti the First

Citric Dirt
Composed by Kevin Murphy & Thomas Haugh
Performed by Seti the First

Bread
Composed & Performed by Toby Kaar      

We The Burning Night
Composed by Thomas Haugh
Performed by Hulk, Thomas Haugh & Kevin Murphy


Thanks to everyone who agreed to be interviewed for this film:

The survivors of sexual violence who courageously shared their stories

Mama Masika

Ida Sawyer, Human Rights Watch

G. Muhindo Misonia, CREDDHO

Salomé Ntububa, Christian Aid


Additional thanks:

Captain Moise Banza
Daniel McCabe
Serge Kakule
Horeb Bulambo Shindano
Ilot Muthaka
Yves Muke Muhitwa
Heal Africa
Everyone at Congo Men's Network
Colonel Mamadou Ndala 15/06/79 - 02/01/14