Community Perspectives and Pathways to Reintegration of Survivors of Sexual Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

I. INTRODUCTION

Sexual violence has gained international recognition as both a serious human rights problem and an international security issue. Because of the considerable academic work, international activism, and policy debates cultivated in recent years,¹ it is increasingly apparent that victims (or survivors) of such violence often suffer various long-term medical and psychological problems resulting from the abuse.² Victims also report to suffer because of their communities' negative attitudes and stigmatization, leading to family and community rejection of the victim and creating difficulties in finding a husband (or wife).³ Sexual violence can therefore have destructive effects well beyond the battlefield, and threaten the post-conflict stability, development, and basic rights of those affected.⁴

Sexual violence can have potential long-term consequences for the individual victims, perpetrators, the community, and for society as a whole. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, international nongovernmental organizations (NGO), UN agencies, and the scholarly community often use conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence as the dominant framework when discussing the situation in the eastern part of the country. The civilian population has suffered from multiple different forms of violence and abuse. However, media and commentators typically identify the rape of women and girls in particular as one of the most prolific weapons of the war. In fact, rape is perceived as an effective means to ravage entire communities.⁵ Studies report that soldiers from different rebel groups, militias, the state army, and civilians have committed sexual violence.⁶ With such a large population of sexual violence survivors, we must ask what can prevent the rejection of these survivors and facilitate the reintegration of sexual violence survivors into their communities? While sexual violence perpetrated by armed groups as a weapon of war has been the dominant framing of violence against women in eastern DRC, women also suffer violence and rape committed by civilian perpetrators. Rather than adhering to an arguably arbitrary or muddled distinction of what can be considered conflict-related sexual violence or not in the DRC (or what happens inside or outside of conflict), this article focuses on understanding whether this distinction is perceived as important for the members of the communities. Also, more importantly, to what extent and how is it relevant for the reintegration process?⁷

To...