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Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
To the Editor: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been involved in a chronic conflict, concentrated in the east, where civilian communities are targeted on a daily basis.1 The United Nations Security Council recently adopted a resolution that includes a request to its mission in the DRC (MONUC) to report on "factual data and trend analysis" of sexual violence.2 This study describes sexual violence reported to MONUC, by perpetrator and region, in the DRC during the 18-month period from October 2005 through March 2007.
Methods
A University of Toronto research ethics officer determined that this study was exempt from ethical approval ex post facto. Data on alleged perpetrators, abused persons, and context of sexual violence were obtained from MONUC monthly human rights reports.3 The reports are based on interviewing witnesses and reportedly abused persons; neither individual abused persons nor individual witnesses are identified in the MONUC report. MONUC claims that all reports are verified before an incident is included in a monthly human rights report. The Taback-Coupland model of armed violence4 was used to build a database from MONUC reports for their subsequent analysis. Statistical analysis was conducted using SAS 9.1 (SAS Institute Inc, Cary, North Carolina).
Results
There were 218 reports of sexual violence to MONUC involving 500 abused persons and 786 perpetrators. Two hundred ten reports (96.3%) involved abused females and 62 of these reports (29.5%) involved abused female minors. Fifty-four reports (25%) had multiple abused women (median abused, 3), and in 41 reports (19%), a median of 1 person other than the abused was killed or injured. Of the 44 reports involving police, 50% occurred in custody, and 18 of these cases (81.8%) occurred in a detention center. A suspect was arrested in 34 reports (15.6%); 17 reports (7.8%) were witnessed by the abused person's family, and 18 (8.3%) occurred during active conflict.
The number of perpetrators and abused varied by perpetrator status and region: perpetrator-to-abused ratio was larger for armed groups and other state actors in eastern regions of the DRC (Table). Fifteen cases (6.9%) involved the mass abuse of 5 to 90 women; the perpetrators were state military (n = 5; median abused, 7), police (n = 2, median abused, 18), armed groups (n = 2, median abused, 21), and other state actors (n = 6, median abused, 7.5).
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Table. Reports of Sexual Violence to MONUC October 2005 Through March 2007a
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Three eastern regions (n = 130) contained 60% of reports: South Kivu (55; 25.2%), Orientale (43, 19.7%), and North Kivu (32, 14.7%). Twenty-five reports (81%) involving armed groups occurred in South Kivu.
Comment
Limitations of this study include that the sexual violence cases reported to MONUC are not a representative sample; hence, prevalence estimates may lack accuracy by reflecting reporting patterns. MONUC reports were not meant to be used as a data collection tool, so many reports are missing information. MONUC focuses on areas with active armed actors and does not investigate cases uniformly throughout the country; thus, for example, community sexual violence is underreported, the number of unreported sexual violence cases is unknown, and the number of cases MONUC does not investigate (eg, because of a lack of security) is unknown. MONUC staff conducting interviews may have introduced reporting bias; biases could also have arisen from some people feeling insecure and others feeling safe about reporting an incident.
The small fraction of DRC sexual violence cases reported to MONUC1 largely involves authority figures. Sexual violence perpetrated by people in authority is a destabilizing force in society and may indicate a lack of respect for the rule of law. Sexual violence reported to MONUC is committed by state military, police, armed groups, and other state actors. These results suggest a pattern of abuse of women in groups by armed groups and other state actors, individual abuse by individual state military and police, and abuse of persons in detention centers by police after taking them into custody.
Author Contributions: Dr Taback had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Study concept and design: Taback, Painter, King.
Acquisition of data: Taback, King.
Analysis and interpretation of data: Taback, Painter, King.
Drafting of the manuscript: Taback, Painter, King.
Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Taback, Painter, King.
Statistical analysis: Taback, Painter, King.
Obtained funding: Taback, King.
Administrative, technical, or material support: Taback, King.
Study supervision: Taback, King.
Financial Disclosures: None reported.
Funding/Support: This research was funded by the Alliance for Direct Action against Rape in Conflict and Crisis.
Role of the Sponsor: The sponsor had no role in the design and conduct of the study; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.
Nathan Taback, PhD
nathan.taback{at}utoronto.ca
Department of Public Health Sciences
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Robin Painter, MA;
Ben King, MA
Alliance for Direct Action against Rape in Conflict and Crisis
Geneva, Switzerland
1. Democratic Republic of Congo: rape as a weapon in North Kivu. Doctors Without Borders. MSF-USA: Field News. July 19, 2006.
2. Resolution 1794 (2007). United Nations Security Council. December 21, 2007. http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/{65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9}/DRC%20SRES1794.pdf. Accessed July 15, 2008.3. MONUC: UN Mission in DR Congo. http://www.monuc.org. Accessed July 10, 2008.4. Taback N, Coupland R. Towards collation and modelling of the global cost of armed violence on civilians. Med Confl Surviv. 2005;21(1):19-27.
FULL TEXT
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JAMA. 2008;300(6):653-654.
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