VZCZCXYZ0013
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKI #1236/01 3041226
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 311226Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7061
INFO RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 5107

UNCLAS KINSHASA 001236 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AIDAC 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR F, CWEINBERG 
AID FOR GH, OFDA 
NAIROBI FOR AMIRTHANAYAGAM 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID PHUM SOCI KWMN KJUS CG
SUBJECT:  PROGRAM UPDATE: GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN THE DRC 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  Gender-Based Violence continues to be a threat to stability and 
affects the most vulnerable populations - women and children-in 
Eastern Congo.  Recent reports indicate the problem is worsening, 
particularly in the province of North Kivu, but the problem is also 
severe in South Kivu, Maniema, and the Ituri District of Orientale. 
The United States, through the bilateral USAID Mission, the Office 
of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), and the U.S. Department of 
State, supports activities to respond to and prevent 
conflict-related and domestic violence through a variety of 
interventions in the Eastern Provinces and throughout the country. 
End summary. 
 
¶2.  The continued problem of ungoverned space in Eastern DRC, 
coupled with the ongoing conflict fueled by armed militias, an 
undisciplined national army and other negative forces, perpetuates 
the cycle of violence against women and children and poses serious 
threats to efforts to protect these vulnerable populations from 
sexual violence and abuse.  In addition, continued population 
displacement due to ongoing armed conflict puts individuals at 
increased risk for abuse and threatens to undermine progress 
achieved through USG-supported interventions.  In an environment 
where rape is used as a weapon against local populations by illegal 
armed groups, and an absence of the rule of law that permits the 
Congolese army and police to act with impunity, women and children 
continue to be the most vulnerable. 
 
¶3.  All age groups are affected by GBV, with the youngest recorded 
victim at six months old and the oldest at 92.  USAID estimates that 
a minimum of 80,000-100,000 rapes and/or mutilations have taken 
place in DRC since 1996. GBV has a severe and negative impact on 
Congolese society.  Victims experience shame and humiliation, 
rejection by family members, malnutrition, medical complications 
such as HIV, STIs, and  vaginal and/or anal fistulas, psychological 
problems, and negative economic consequences. As perpetrators 
continue to go unpunished, the existing culture of impunity is 
exacerbated. 
 
¶4.  The United States has supported efforts to respond to GBV in the 
DRC through a variety of mechanisms.  USG interventions have 
included providing care and treatment for GBV survivors, 
strengthening the justice sector's capacity to address acts of GBV, 
and advancing the protection of vulnerable populations, particularly 
women and children. 
 
USAID INTERVENTIONS 
------------------- 
 
¶5.  Since 2002, with the use of USAID/DRC Development Assistance 
(DA) funding, as well as resources provided under the Displaced 
Children and Orphan's Fund (DCOF), the Victims of Torture Fund 
(VOT), Trafficking in Persons (TIP) funding, and the fistula 
earmark, USAID has supported interventions to respond to 
Gender-Based Violence through care and treatment for survivors and 
awareness and prevention activities.  USAID-supported programs aim 
to address the immediate, medium, and longer-term consequences of 
sexual violence for victims, their families, and communities so that 
victims of sexual violence are able to recover from trauma and 
reintegrate into their families and communities.  Outreach and 
community mobilization activities, including legal advocacy, aim to 
prevent new acts of Gender-Based Violence in targeted areas. To 
date, USAID has allocated more than $10,000,000 for GBV activities 
in Eastern DRC. 
 
USAID PARTNERS 
-------------- 
 
¶6.  International Rescue Committee (IRC) ($4,868,096 from June 20, 
2002 through March 31, FY 2008) provides local partners in North 
Kivu, South Kivu, and Katanga Provinces the necessary training and 
skills to provide direct services (medical care, psychosocial 
support, socio-economic reintegration, and legal referral when 
desired) to GBV survivors.  IRC also provides support to Doctors on 
Call for Service (DOCS)(Goma, North Kivu) and Panzi (Bukavu, South 
Kivu) Hospitals, where more than 100 women receive fistula repair 
and other health services each month. 
 
¶7.  Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) ($4,324,684 from September 
30, 2004 to September 30, FY 2008) supports psychosocial 
rehabilitation and reintegration of survivors of sexual and 
gender-based violence in Ituri District of Orientale Province and 
Maniema Province. Working with a primary local NGO, Centre 
d'Intervention Psychosociale (CIP), COOPI has developed "Healing 
Centers" that work to respond to sexual and gender-based violence 
through confidential identification of victims, medical and legal 
referrals, socio-economic recovery, and community awareness 
campaigns. 
 
¶8.  UNICEF ($518,000 in FY 2006) provides assistance to and helps 
ensure the safe reintegration of abducted girls and boys and other 
GBV survivors to their communities in Ituri District or Orientale 
Province and works to prevent further abduction, trafficking, and 
sexual violence. 
 
¶9.  Global Rights ($1,819,000 from October 1, 2004 to September 30, 
2007) was instrumental in the adoption and implementation of 
priority improvements to the DRC's legal framework, including the 
national Law against Sexual Violence, passed in August 2006. Global 
Rights also conducted public advocacy campaigns and awareness 
raising around the new law, as well as provided technical assistance 
to NGOs in Eastern Congo and throughout the country that are 
implementing legal assistance activities for GBV victims. 
 
 
OFDA INTERVENTIONS 
------------------ 
 
¶10.  All OFDA funded health projects in Eastern Congo have GBV 
components. OFDA currently has three active health projects: two in 
North Kivu with the NGO International Medical Corps and one in South 
Kivu with the NGO GOAL. OFDA anticipates two additional health 
projects in North Kivu in the near future that will also include GBV 
interventions. 
 
STATE DEPARTMENT INTERVENTIONS 
------------------------------ 
 
¶11.  In FY 2007, the State Department, through the Bureau for 
Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), supported the Center for 
Victims of Torture, which trains counselors and provides counseling 
support to refugees, including GBV survivors, in Katanga Province. 
 
¶12.  The State Department has identified support to the  military 
justice sector as one key factor critical to eliminating the culture 
of impunity, particularly in relation to human rights violations and 
GBV.  In FY 2008 the Department, in collaboration with the Defense 
Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS), will support an 
initial series of 12 one-week training seminars aimed at members of 
the military justice sector (military magistrates, military 
prosecutors, judicial police, and defense counsel). The planned 
topic of the first series is Sex Crime Investigation and 
Prosecution.  Additional training and material support projects will 
be implemented as funds become available. 
 
¶13.  In FY 2008, the State Department, through the Bureau for 
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), is supporting two 12-month 
grants to the American Bar Association ($555,000) and the Carter 
Center ($425,000) which will focus on addressing GBV and impunity 
through justice sector and civil society support, including legal 
aid to GBV victims, human rights training for judges and police, NGO 
capacity building, and public debate around GBV and human rights. 
DRL is additionally providing a three-year grant to Journalists for 
Human Rights (JHR) ($837,718), which will promote rule of law by 
building the capacity of national media to report accurately on 
human rights issues and creating a network of human rights reporters 
across the country. 
 
¶14.  The State Department, through the Embassy's Democracy and Human 
Rights Fund, also provides small grants on an annual basis to local 
organizations in Eastern Congo that provide services to survivors of 
GBV through identification of victims, income-generating activities, 
and judicial support.  As an example, a recent grant, signed on 
October 23, will fund a project to "name and shame" hotel owners in 
Bukavu who facilitate child prostitution on their premises.  Another 
2007 grant will provide assistance to victims and support 
prosecution of offenders in Bunia, Ituri District. 
 
PROGRAM RESULTS 
--------------- 
 
¶15.  To date, through USAID-supported programs, more than 40,000 GBV 
survivors have received medical care, and thousands more have 
received other critical services, including counseling, family 
medication, socio-economic assistance, and legal referral when 
appropriate. USAID assistance resulted in the successful adoption of 
the national Law Against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in August 
¶2006. In FY 2007 alone, more than 800,000 individuals in Ituri 
District and Maniema Province participated in GBV community 
awareness activities, and many thousands more have been reached in 
North and South Kivu through the activities supported by IRC and 
other partners. 
FUTURE INTERVENTIONS 
-------------------- 
 
¶16.  Post is developing an updated Social Protection strategy that 
integrates the efforts of USAID, Department of State, and other USG 
agencies. The strategy will serve as the basis for future program 
development of new activities to respond to and prevent Gender-Based 
Violence.  GBV continues to be a high priority issue for Embassy 
Kinshasa, and the current instability in North Kivu points to the 
need for additional assistance in this area.  As additional 
resources become available post is prepared to respond quickly to 
address additional immediate and long-term needs, such as expanding 
the reach of care and treatment programs, increasing public 
awareness and prevention efforts, and building on previous successes 
in legal reform and advocacy. 
 
BROCK