Human Rights Voices

While the UN devotes its human rights operations to the demonization of the democratic state of Israel above all others and condemns the United States more often than the vast majority of non-democracies around the world, the voices of real victims around the world must be heard.

Democratic Republic of the Congo, June 23, 2011

100 Raped or Beaten in Eastern Congo Attacks Over Two Days

Original source

Bloomberg

More than 100 people were raped or beaten in a series of attacks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo over two days in June, according to Geneva-based Medecins Sans Frontieres, an emergency medical aid group.

Unknown armed men raided villages about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the town of Fizi in South Kivu province between June 10 and June 12, said Megan Hunter, MSF-Holland's head of office for the province.

"Our health centers have registered more than 100 cases of rape and physical abuse," she said by phone today from Bukavu, the provincial capital. Mineral-rich eastern Congo has suffered more than 15 years of conflict and rape has become common in the struggle between more than a dozen armed groups and the Congolese army.

On Feb. 21, a South Kivu military court convicted four army officers of ordering the rapes of more than 50 people in Fizi on Jan. 1. The soldiers are appealing.