Healing and justice for victimsof conflict related sexual violence in Congo

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, successive conflicts in recent decades have seen systematic use of rape and sexual assault by all fighting forces. These widespread and recurrent acts have been the subject of numerous UN reports revealing the scale of these crimes. The majority of the acts of sexual violence cited in these reports constitute crimes under Congolese law as well as international, human rights and humanitarian law. If such violence has long gone unpunished, it is partly due to the lack of access to justice for the victims. SOFEPADI is a Congolese non-governmental organization. Its mission is to accompany women, children and men who have suffered this violence.