Democratic Republic of the Congo
Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to face widespread sexual violence, disease, and displacement in conflict situations arising from clashes between dozens of armed groups. Often, sexual violence and rape are used as terror tactics and weapons of war, and despite the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Women’s Platform for the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework, women are still largely underrepresented in peacebuilding efforts. Additionally, women activists face rape as a form of torture by government actors who disagree with their political activity. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) aims to provide protection for civilians, including reducing the threat of armed groups perpetrating sexual and gender-based violence, monitoring and reporting on sexual violence and ensuring women’s participation in stabilization and national political dialogue.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to face widespread sexual violence, disease, and displacement in conflict situations arising from clashes between dozens of armed groups. Often, sexual violence and rape are used as terror tactics and weapons of war, and despite the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Women’s Platform for the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework, women are still largely underrepresented in peacebuilding efforts.
Additionally, women activists face rape as a form of torture by government actors who disagree with their political activity. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) aims to provide protection for civilians, including reducing the threat of armed groups perpetrating sexual and gender-based violence, monitoring and reporting on sexual violence and ensuring women’s participation in stabilization and national political dialogue.
Current and Past Recommendations to the UN Security Council (Monthly Action Points)
Democratic Republic of the Congo (July 2013)
In its discussion of reports on the UN mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and expected briefing on the Peace, Security and Cooperation (PSC) Framework, the Council should ensure that women’s participation and protection concerns are central to efforts to achieve peace and stability in the DRC, as highlighted in SCR 2106 (OP 11, 12). Regarding the PSC Framework, the Council and MONUSCO should provide consistent support to the civil society consultations that have taken place during the benchmark development process, and ensure these continue throughout the Framework implementation process, particularly regarding women’s participation. Any national implementation mechanisms should ensure women’s and civil society organizations’ full participation, and reporting on progress should contain gender analysis and gender-disaggregated data. Regarding the MONUSCO country report, as previous reports of the Secretary-General on reporting on women, peace and security matters almost solely to protection issues, the Council should inquire into specific information on: efforts to include women in all peace and reconciliation efforts; on consultation with women’s human rights organizations in planning for stabilization and consolidation; and on the centrality of women’s rights to electoral, security sector, and judicial reform. The intervention brigade authorized under the MONUSCO mandate in SCR 2098 (2013) should be held to the mission’s protection of civilians mandate, must be subjected to strict vetting procedures and pre-deployment training that reaches best practice standards, particularly regarding sexual violence in conflict.
Relevant Resources
