WHY CONGO?
Congo is the most dangerous place on the planet to be a women or a girl.
Since 1996, sexual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been used to torture and humiliate women and girls and destroy families. Hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped since the conflict began. In addition to the severe psychological impact, sexual violence leaves many survivors with genital lesions, traumatic fistulae, severed and broken limbs, unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Survivors are regularly ostracized and abandoned by their families and communities.
In 2007, V-Day and UNICEF launched the global campaign STOP RAPING OUR GREATEST RESOURCE: Power To The Women And Girls Of The Democratic Republic of Congo that is:
RAISING AWARENESS about the level of sexual violence in the DRC, the root economic causes of the war and the historical context.
ADVOCATING FOR CHANGE on local, provincial, national, and international levels.
PROVIDING SUPPORT to activists in the DRC and around the globe who are working to end the atrocities and change perceptions about sexual violence.
CREATING City of Joy, a transformational community for Congolese women survivors of sexual violence, conceived, created and developed by the women on the ground. City of Joy will support women survivors of sexual violence to heal and provide them with opportunities to develop their leadership through innovative programming.
By joining this campaign, you will be supporting Congolese women and men who are demanding an end to rape. You will be supporting local efforts to demand justice and accountability. You will be supporting survivors of sexual violence to heal and rebuild their lives and communities. And you will join others around the globe to demand that women and girls in DRC are safe.
V-Day will continue to focus on this groundbreaking campaign for years to come, until the violence stops.