Women Carry Half the Sky – Tales of Congolese Women

Translated from the Norwegian

 

Foreword

These days there are fewer of the ’old-style’ conflicts, wars between countries. But many countries are suffering under deadly, dramatic internal conflicts. In such conflicts, the civilian population is always particularly vulnerable. And one thing seems never to change: women are the hardest hit, and suffer the most from poverty, hunger, disease and violence.

In many conflicts, sexual violence forms part of a military strategy. This applies to all kinds of armed forces – both government troops and insurgents.

In addition to the personal physical and psychological suffering – which is difficult to put into words – rape leads to permanent stigmatisation of the victims in many countries. They are ostracised by their families, their local communities and their networks.

This is instrumental in impeding or undermining the necessary process of post-war reconciliation. And this, in turn, can lead to dangerous destabilisation, at both national and regional level, fuelling further war and conflict. It is a vicious circle – one that some people have an interest in maintaining.

This is one of the reasons why sexualised violence used as part of military strategy is also recognised as a security problem.

The armed conflicts that have ravaged the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the last 15 years have led to one of the most serious humanitarian crises the world has ever seen. In January 2008, the organisation International Rescue estimated that around 5.4 million people had been killed as a result of this war. It is a figure that defies comprehension. In addition, millions of people have been forced to flee their homes, and in the eastern part of country alone there are more than 1.5 million internally displaced persons.

In addition to all the people who have been killed or displaced, there are hundreds of thousands who have been disabled for life, some due to sexualised violence and systematic rape. This violence has reached terrifying proportions. UNICEF has estimated that around 200 000 women and girls have been raped since 1996. However, these figures are uncertain, and sadly there is reason to believe that the true figures are significantly higher.

Fortunately, this issue has now been placed high on the international agenda. A milestone was reached in 2008, when the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1820 on women, peace and security, which to a large extent addresses sexualised violence.

Standards and resolutions are just a start. The international community now has a responsibility to implement resolution 1820. This needs to be done in a variety of ways. The following are some of Norway’s main concerns:

The victims of violence must be given more than just medical treatment; they must receive financial and other compensation.

Perpetrators must be punished, whatever their rank and status, regardless of whether they are military personnel or civilians. Those who are guilty of sexualised violence must be punished. No one should be able to hide behind immunity to avoid punishment for their crimes.

We must strengthen our efforts to combat sexualised violence in our contacts and dealings with the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We must also exploit the space that has been created in the UN for combating such abuse. We must continue to give the UN a central role and the necessary resources to remain at the forefront in preventing and responding to sexualised violence.

Women Carry Half the Sky – Tales of Congolese Women by Jan Speed and Endre Vestvik, puts a face to the many victims of rape and sexual violence. Through text and photographs they let the stories emerge – of the people, their individual experiences, the background and the magnitude of the problem.

As the Chinese say, one picture is worth more than ten thousand words. And words are inadequate to express the emotions these pictures evoke. This is a painful and brutal reality full of suffering. We see the faces – their pain, loss and vulnerability. Thousands of miles away, yet so close, so close – face to face.

But in the stories and the photographs, we sense the filters human beings are able to mobilise – in order to continue living, bear witness and fight. The pictures and the stories convey a message.

So although this is a brutal book, it is also a book about survival, about how women struggle back to their feet, help each other and fight injustice – a book about hope and human dignity.

Jonas Gahr Støre

Oslo, August 2009