Conflict brings increased sexualized violence to DR Congo

As the M23 rebels superior on Bukavu throughout January and February, a number of villages alongside Lake Kivu have been become battlefields. Though fighters from all sides have dedicated atrocities, civil society teams and activists have recognized the Congolese navy and allied Wazalendo militias from the North Kivu province as raping ladies and kids.

Survivors obtain no justice

Riziki (not her actual identify) advised DW that she survived an assault.“Three soldiers broke into my house to loot,” Riziki mentioned. “One of them came into my bedroom to rape me, but I resisted.”“The others shouted at him to leave, but he refused,” Riziki mentioned. “Luckily, my son came to my rescue and they left after they had trashed everything.”The crime happened in February in Kavumu village, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Bukavu. After that, Riziki, a mom of 5, discovered refuge in Bukavu.She hoped to obtain justice in Bukavu throughout a deliberate trial. But then, M23 fighters took town. Judges, attorneys, defendants, convicts, and even some survivors, fled.“I started trading,” Riziki mentioned. “Unfortunately, armed men came back to the neighborhood where I had fled with my children. They killed two neighbors. We fled again, and I only came back recently.”

Survivors silenced

The new occupiers didn’t enhance a lot: Witnesses reported instances of rape and sexual violence within the M23-occupied cities of Bukavu and Goma — particularly focusing on married ladies and ladies. Women have been additionally pressured to carry out sexual acts in change for varied providers, and in lots of instances, survivors didn’t press fees out of concern and disgrace.One younger girl, who needs to stay nameless, was wrongfully locked up in a secret service jail. She advised DW of her expertise there.“At night, one guards threatened to rape me. When I pushed him away, he hit me. I screamed out in pain. Luckily, the superior officer came, and the guard was whipped. Those who witnessed the scene told me guards usually rape women without their superiors knowing,” she mentioned.

Rape as a weapon of battle

Doctors Without Borders (MSF), an emergency medical group, stories that sexual violence instances have exploded, particularly in North Kivu, since combating between the Congolese military and the M23 started.MSF stories treating virtually 40,000 victims there in 2024; between January and April 2025, there have been virtually 7,400 victims and survivors. In South Kivu, MSF has assisted virtually 700 folks within the Kalehe and Uvira areas for the reason that begin of 2025. According to MSF’s report, the overwhelming majority of assaults reported by victims in 2025 have been dedicated at gunpoint, with perpetrators remaining unaccountable.“The systematic use of rape as a weapon of war is not only a violation of human rights, but also a deliberate strategy to destabilize communities,” Amadou Bocoum, DRC nation director for Care International, advised DW. Care registered 67,000 instances of sexual violence towards ladies and ladies within the first 4 months of 2025 — a 38% enhance from 2024. “Because of the ongoing fighting,” Bocoum mentioned, “more women are being attacked and raped.”“At the same time, the United States government has cut financial aid, which is normally 40%,” Bocoum mentioned. “We no longer have emergency drugs to prevent HIV infection after rape in stock at our health centers.”Willermine Ntakebuka, coordinator of the ladies’s rights group Vision Communautaire, spoke of “alarming figures” within the MSF report. “This war should already be over,” Ntakebuka mentioned. “Thirty years of war are too much, with all the consequences suffered by the civilian population, especially women and girls. Women should not have to pay the high price of armed conflict.”