Sexual violence grows in Democratic Republic of Congo

Kinshasa, Sep 1 (Prensa Latina) Sexual violence is growing today in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with more than 61 thousand cases reported in the first six months of 2024, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

September 1, 2024
11:46

The figure represents an 11 percent increase over the same period last year, based on OCHA report.

Overall in 2023, at least 123,000 cases of gender-based violence were reported, and nearly 90 percent of the survivors were women and girls.

However, OCHA believes that the phenomenon may be even greater, as not all cases of gender-based violence are reported.

The conflict affecting eastern DRC is one of the factors affecting the growth of this social problem.

“Between 70 and 90 percent of conflict-related incidents of sexual violence involve the use of a weapon, particularly firearms, reported in a United Nations research,” the UN Secretary General’s special representative, Pramila Patten, said last April.

jrr/jav/oda/kmg