Violence against women in many countries is a devastating type of war strategy, which makes victims of women and girls. Today, INTERSOS makes an appeal on the annual International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Picture of Guillermo Luna
Violence against women is present in every country of the world and it has many faces: physical, psychological, sexual. It is a crime against humanity, and men are the first to be called to action. In the countries where INTERSOS operates, violence against women is a constant, insidious element entangled in the dynamic of conflict areas.
“On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we want to signal the war situations in which gender-based violence is used systematically by armed groups to terrorize and punish civilians,” says Alda Cappelletti, Program Director for INTERSOS. “Very little is spoken about these war crimes. While our operators along with those of other organizations are on the field to assist female survivors of violence, there is an urgent need for the international community to elevate these women from the isolation, stigma, and silence to which there are condemned. In silence and loneliness, violence finds nourishment.”
The prevention of gender-based violence and support for survivors are an integral part of the humanitarian intervention and work of INTERSOS. Medical and psychological assistance (with particular attention to surgical treatment for permanent harm to rape victims) and socio-economic reintegration (via support groups and vocational training) are among the activities to empower and give back dignity to female survivors.
Democratic Republic of Congo – Case Study
“The Democratic Republic of Congo is a country where woman’s body has become a war field and rape is used as a war weapon” said Dr. Denis Mukwege – known as “Dr. Miracle”- activist and 2018 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. From January to September 2020, INTERSOS operators have documented 716 cases of gender-based violence in the Ituri province. In South-Kivu, by September 2020 the number of annual registered cases of violence was 920, of which 475 were rape cases. In North- Kivu, as of September 30th this year, 957 cases of gender-based violence were documented, with 667 rape cases. This data shows that violence episodes are sharply increasing, especially rape cases. The numbers of the third quarter of the year are already higher than those registered in the entire year of 2019.
In the areas of Karisimbi, Rutshuru and Lubero in Northern Kivu, INTERSOS works to restore the dignity to women that suffered fistulas by providing surgical reconstruction, medical and psychological assistance and socio-economic reintegration. Among these patients, we also find young girls.
Chinara’s story
Chinara (a pseudonym to protect the identity of this assisted minor), is a young girl that is 11 years old today. We tell her story from a medical center where she underwent surgery and is rapidly recovering. “I had gone to the Virunga forest to pick up wood to sell in the market with four friends. Suddenly we were surrounded by four armed men. They left me abandoned and unconscious.
I don’t remember anything until I woke up at the hospital. Sadly, my mother did not have the money for the medical treatment, so they sent me back home and for eleven months I suffered from gastrointestinal distress and incontinence. Then I found INTERSOS operators who informed me about the possibility of having an operation free of cost at the Keshero hospital. I received treatment, I no longer suffer from incontinence and I finally can try to live a normal life. INTERSOS is also helping us to set up a small venture to sell our products in the market”.
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