Countries: D R Congo
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

The Center for Reproductive Rights states that Democratic Republic of the Congo's laws permit abortion to preserve the physical/mental health of the mother. Abortion is permitted in cases of fetal diagnosis, incest, and rape.

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: LRW-DATA-1

"A woman was tied between two trees and gang-raped by six men amid a horrific new outbreak of violence between warring Congo and Rwanda rebels, a human rights group has revealed. A devastating Amnesty International report reveals harrowing testimonies of sexual violence, torture and extrajudicial killings carried out between March and May of this year. One survivor told of a women being tied between two trees and gang-raped by six Wazalendo fighters: 'Let them be punished so they don't do such acts to someone else,' she said. During another rape by Wazalendo fighters, Kinyarwanda-speaking men, believed to be fighters belonging to the armed Nyatura group, accused the woman of supporting...more

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: GEW-DATA-1

"In total, Amnesty interviewed 14 survivors of sexual violence – eight were raped by M23, five by Wazalendo, and one by soldiers from the Congolese army (FARDC)" (para 23). Wazalendo and M23 are both rebel groups active in the Congo during the current conflict (NAC - CODER COMMENT).

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: ABO-PRACTICE-1

"In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), access to safe abortion has historically been limited. Political chaos, a weak health sector, low use of contraception, and restrictive laws—that until recently made it illegal in nearly all cases—have contributed to high rates of abortion across the country. Many of these abortions are unsafe, which contributes to the DRC’s very high maternal mortality rate. However, in March 2018 the Congolese government published the text of the Maputo Protocol in the country’s national legal journal following concerted advocacy efforts by women’s rights groups, researchers, and nongovernmental organizations. Due to the nature of the country’s legal system, this action effectively expanded the categories under...more

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: AFE-DATA-1

The gender parity index (GPI) for gross secondary school enrollment (i.e. the ratio of gross enrollment of girls to gross enrollment of boys at the secondary level) is .63. This number was found by using the World Bank's data for secondary school gross enrollment for girls and boys. As of 2021, the gross enrollment rate for females is 44% while the gross enrollment rate for males is 70%. (CEC2 - CODER COMMENT).

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Women who venture to the army outposts to complain about insecurity take immense risks. Soldiers deployed in conflict zones act with almost complete impunity, frequently targeting women and girls with sexual violence. The UN reported that, in 2021, the military and police were responsible for about 29 percent of conflict-related sexual violence in Congo. 'They say Congo is a rape capital,' says Justine Masika, who leads an association in Goma that advocates for victims of gender-based violence. 'But I say the women of Congo are strong because they don’t remain victims. They become actors of change'" (para 16-17).

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: GP-DATA-2

"Liberata Buratwa, who has been running a network of women peace activists for decades, speaks to people displaced by a rebel offensive in Rutshuru, a town in the North Kivu province of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ongoing clashes have killed more people than any conflict since World War II. 'I have been working for peace since I was very young,' Buratwa says. In 2008, at the height of a spate of massacres, she led a delegation of women to meet with the leader of the feared rebel group known by the acronym CNDP. 'We told him, 'my son, rebellion will lead you nowhere, the bush is for...more

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: ERBG-PRACTICE-4

"'Peace is at the center of our work because it is always in the minds of women. Even when we work on entrepreneurship we always think about peace and security because in order to be able to sell, women who bring food and produce from the forests and from the fields must be able to use a road that is safe and where there are no armed groups.' Josephine Malimukono, peace activist" (para 47).

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: DMW-PRACTICE-1

"[P]atriarchal culture is deeply entrenched in Congo. Women are expected to obey men, never disagree or complain, and they are not allowed to voice their opinions publicly. Those who do often face backlash in the form of threats, harassment, exile, even death" (para 48).

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: ATFPA-PRACTICE-3

"Collaboration between women’s groups and the authorities has historically been difficult, says Nelly Mbangu, a lawyer from Goma. This is, she explains, because patriarchal culture is deeply entrenched in Congo. Women are expected to obey men, never disagree or complain, and they are not allowed to voice their opinions publicly. Those who do often face backlash in the form of threats, harassment, exile, even death. Such customs make it challenging for women to take on leadership roles and speak up about the violence they endure, let alone spearhead the search for solutions" (para 48-49).

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"In a disturbing new claim following the uprising, the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) warned that sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war by rival armed groups in Goma" (para 15).

Countries: Central African Rep, D R Congo
Variables: AFE-PRACTICE-1

"Morocco’s peacekeeping troops are deployed in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo — both countries where attacks on students and schools, and the military use of schools by local parties have been documented as problems" (7).

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"Charities like MSF are reporting a growing number of refugees near the eastern city of Goma, DRC who are experiencing rape and torture (UST - CODERS COMMENT). [T]rezor’s(35-year-old works for MSF) job is harrowingly complex: ensuring rape survivors receive the psychological support required to move forward with their lives. Most arrive at the camps with no belongings, having walked for days to traverse the region’s shifting frontline. Many have been attacked at gunpoint by roaming groups of militia, their children forced to watch their mothers being raped. Entire families turn up in a profound state of shock. “Post-traumatic stress is observed in almost all sexual violence survivors. They are survivors...more

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: GEW-DATA-1

"They arrive every few minutes, survivors of the unrelenting sexual violence that defines one of the world’s most intractable conflicts" (Para 1). "The 35-year-old works for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), overseeing the charity’s sexual violence clinics within the sprawling camps of grubby white tents that are home to 650,000 people who have fled the fighting" (Para 2). "Its four clinics for sexual violence survivors in the Goma camps are witnessing record caseloads. In August they helped 2,011 patients, an average of 77 a day when open, rising to 3,094 in October: 119 cases each day. Last year, MSF treated a record 25,166 victims of sexual violence in the DRC, the...more

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"The fallout from an attack is often magnified by the stigma attached to rape. Survivors are shunned by their families; husbands leave if they find out what has happened" (Para 22). Because of the stigma attached to rape, where survivors are often shunned by their families and abandoned by their husbands, women are less likely to report the injustices they have experienced (UST - CODERS COMMENT).