. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from the United Nations News Centre

In 1999, when a woman appeared at his hospital with genital destroyed by gun shots, the Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege first believed it was an isolated case. “But after about six months, I realized that the story was repeated in other patients that were almost identical: ‘I was raped, and then they pierced me with a bayonet! I was raped, and then they burned rubber on my genitals!'” Dr. Mukwege recalled in a recent interview with the UN Radio and the UN News Centre .

Dr. Denis Mukwege, director and founder of the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, and winner of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. UN Photo / Eskinder Debebe

The practice he had just discovered, born of the bloody conflict between the government at that time and the armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), would profoundly mark the rest of his career: the use of the destruction of the female genitalia as a weapon of war.

“This situation simply fell on us,” said Dr. Mukwege to explain the decision he took then to dedicate his professional life to reconstructive surgery for women victims of sexual violence – a decision that would put his life and that of his family in danger.

Sixteen years later, the commitment of Dr. Mukwege has allowed him to treat more than 40,000 victims in the hospital that he himself founded in the district of Panzi in Bukavu, his hometown in the South region Kivu, eastern DRC.

The man that the press has dubbed ‘the man who repairs women’ has also gained international recognition for his work, which has earned him numerous awards, including the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 2008 and the Sakharov prize in 2014. Now 59 years old, he has been approached several times for the Nobel peace prize.

This exceptional career, Dr. Mukwege says, is primarily the result of the injustices he faced, starting with his early decision to become a doctor.

Denis Mukwege was born in 1955 in Bukavu in a Pentecostal family of nine children. As a teenager, he used to accompany his father, a pastor, in his daily rounds. One day his father was called to the bedside of a sick child.

“After praying, his father began to pack up and prepare to leave,” reminisced Dr. Mukwege. “But I told him, ‘No Daddy! When I am sick, you pray, but you also give me medicine. ‘ ”

In response, his father remarked that he was not a doctor.

“At that time, there was like a click in my head and I told myself: I want to be a doctor to do what my father could not.”

The child, meanwhile, finally succumbed to his illness.

Years later, after completing medical school in Burundi, Dr Mukwege returned to South Kivu to start his career in Lemera Hospital, a hundred kilometers from Bukavu, as a pediatrician.

During this experience, he was shocked by the discovery of the pain of women who, in the absence of proper care, regularly suffered serious genital lesions after giving birth. He decided to leave to study gynecology and obstetrics in France before returning to Lemera in the late 1980s.

The outbreak of war in the Congo DRC (then Zaire) in 1996 would again confront Dr. Mukwege with injustice. South Kivu found himself in the front line of fighting.

One day, arriving at the hospital, Dr. Mukwege found all its patients had been murdered, a drama from which he took a long time to recover.

“It took me two years before I felt I could be useful again. People do not imagine how one feels responsible for the sick. And then someone comes and kills them in their bed!”

At the same time, Dr. Mukwege himself ws nearly killed in an attack. While transporting a patient to evacuate to Sweden, his car was riddled with bullet shots. Fortunately, he and other passengers were not affected.

Feeling unable to continue working in Lemera, Dr. Mukwege returned to Bukavu, where he founded the Panzi hospital in 1999, shortly before the discovery of the extent of sexual violence in eastern DRC.

A report published in June 2002 by the NGO Human Rights Watch echoed the observations made on the ground by Dr. Mukwege.

Entitled ‘The War Within the War: Sexual violence against women and girls in eastern Congo’, this study is based on research conducted in the provinces of North and South Kivu, then controlled since 1998 by Rwandan Hutu armed groups and Burundian rebels fighting against the government of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila (1997 – 2001), the Rwandan army and the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD, a Congolese rebel group). According to the report, sexual violence was used frequently and sometimes systematically as a weapon of war by most forces involved in the conflict from the late 1990s.

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(click here for the article in French.)

Protecting women and girls against violence, Is progress being made?

What role should men play to stop violence against women?

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In the one town of Shabunda, “the governor of South Kivu estimated 2,500 to 3,000 women and girls were raped between late 1999 and mid-2001,” according to the report, which did not report other data on a regional basis.

Another Human Rights Watch report, dated June 2014, indicated that tens of thousands have been raped or subjected to other forms of sexual violence in eastern DRC over the past two decades. Entitled ‘Democratic Republic of Congo: End impunity for sexual violence’, although the study could not determine theexact number of victims.

According to Dr. Mukwege, one of the difficulties in obtaining detailed data is the fact that sexual violence was and is still a taboo subject for the victims, who are often rejected by their own community.

“The women we care for represent only the tip of the iceberg because many of them are afraid to say they have been raped for fear of being repudiated by their husbands,” he said, adding that although the fighting has now abated in eastern DRC, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war by armed groups is still relevant.

This taboo is so deeply rooted in Congolese society that the perpetrators, some of whom live near their victims, often enjoy relative impunity. “The woman sees the perpetrtor who lives across the street every morning, but unfortunately he is never made to answer for his actions,” lamented Dr. Mukwege.

Over the years, he has developed an original approach, which he calls “holistic”, to treat victims, taking into account the dimensions of both surgical and psychological, but also the issues of rehabilitation and justice.

“At first we gave only medical care, but we quickly realized that after being treated, the women refused to eat, drink, live and therefore, would also die of some form of suicide,” he said.

The hospital is staffed by a team of psychologists and social workers who work with patients before the reconstructive surgeries.

Once treated, the patients are able to reintegrate into their community while Dr. Mukwege and his team work in collaboration with NGOs that help victims to go to the hospital and provides economic support at their return.

“We found that when they are doing well both physically and psychologically they feel strong enough to be autonomous. At that point the women begin to seek justice” said Dr. Mukwege, who created for this purpose a legal clinic to help women regain their rights and prosecute in court.

His willingness to break the silence surrounding sexual violence against women in eastern DRC, however, brought pressures and threats. He was the target of several failed assassination attempts, one in the office where he made private consultations to patients in Bukavu, which was riddled with bullets. Fortunately, Dr. Mukwege was not present during the attack.

“What am I doing to escape? Not much. Today I have the protection of MONUSCO [Mission to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo], which we appreciate in the hospital, because some members of my staff have also also been kidnapped, tortured and raped, “he said.

Although he feels reassured by the presence of MONUSCO, Dr. Mukwege has admitted that his daily work in Bukavu is performed in difficult conditions and that the silence on sexual violence in DRC is still a reality.

Last September, the Congolese authorities in particular prohibits the dissemination in the country of a documentary film about his background and activities of the Panzi Hospital.

“This is a film that shows the strength of Congolese women, their resilience. […] Women have a much more powerful inner strength than those who would destroy them, “said Dr. Mukwege, expressing his incomprehension at the censorship of the film.

Directed by Thierry Michel and Colette Braeckman, ‘The man who repairs the women – the wrath of Hippocrates’ was screened October 22, 2015 at UN headquarters in New York, in the presence of Dr. Mukwege. A few days earlier, according to press reports, the Congolese government announced the lifting of the decision banning the film in the DRC.

“We can not make progress unless we recognize first that there is a problem. Remaining in the culture of denial is extremely dangerous because it leaves the women to suffer”, he said.

According to Dr. Mukwege, significant progress has been made over the last 15 years. “We have more and more women who not only speak, but who also take a stand and become activists for women’s rights,” he praised.

In July 2014, the President of the DRC, Joseph Kabila, has appointed a Special Adviser in the fight against sexual violence and child recruitment, Jeannine Mabunda Lioko Mudiayi, a sign that attitudes are changing in the country.

The man who repairs women maintains, however, that much remains to be done before we can claim victory. To achieve this, the international community must redouble its efforts to fight against sexual violence related to conflict. Dr. Mukwege calls upon the whole society to consider this matter and not to leave it under the sole prism of women and feminism.

“What is the value of our humanity if people can afford to sell other people to make sexual use, sex slaves,” he said. “Our society must say no and set a red line: if certain acts are committed, it is the entire society that must oppose it.”

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An article from L’Actualité (reprinted as non-commercial use)

Giving voice to those who have no voice: that is the daily struggle of Bineta Diop. Special Envoy of the African Union (AU) for women, peace and security since 2014. A trained lawyer, she wants to increase women’s participation in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. “Peace and security are still dominated by men,” says the 66-year-feminist, wearing a turquoise robe and turban.

Bineta Diop. (Photo: EPA/Nic Bothma)

Founder of the association Femmes Africa Solidarité, which marked since 1996 the emergence of women’s movements for peace on the continent, she spends much of her time “on the ground” meeting with refugees and internally displaced, including women whose rights have been violated. From Somalia to South Sudan, Nigeria and Burundi, she collects their stories, lists the emergencies, and defines the actions to be implemented.

She has no fear to confront Heads of State. In 2001, for example, with a delegation of women from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, she convinced the feared Charles Taylor, then president of Liberia, to participate in a regional summit on peace, thus avoiding the outbreak of war. She has also collaborated on various reconciliation programs in areas of crisis and in post-conflict election observation missions. And ishe s currently working on the establishment of an index to track the progress of the condition of women in every country in Africa.

Ranked among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2011 Bineta Diop remains hopeful despite the violence that still ravage the continent.

“What makes me hopeful is to see that women are able to organize despite everything,” she said. “To see them come together in very difficult conditions, to keep smiling and never give up.”

Actualité interviewed her at the World Summit for Innovation in Education (WISE) in Doha, Qatar, where she gave a lecture.

For 20 years, Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS) has involved women in prevention and resolution of conflicts. What are the main results?

FAS has allowed women to organize and develop skills to become leaders in the establishment of peace. Violent conflict has a major impact on women, their bodies are often used as a weapon of war, a battlefield. But when it comes to solving problems, they are not invited to the discussion table, contrary to the demands of Resolution 1325 of the United Nations Security Council. The mobilization of women can provide a positive change of attitude, we can be an army without weapons. We can bring together Christian and Muslim women and various ethnic groups to talk and to develop common positions.

How can they manage to override their differences, especially when they have suffered so much conflict, even raped?

While men kill, society makes women responsible for the family, children’s education, care of the old … They therefore have a greater interest in peace and security. They can use their status as mothers and sisters in order to win. FAS provides training throughout the continent to help them understand that the real causes of these conflicts are not religious or ethnic, but related to the sharing of power and resources. Once sensitized, they arrive very quickly to transcend their differences and to put aside their grudges.

(Click here for the original French version)

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Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

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Is religion a motor or a brake for peace, in your eyes?

Religion can be used to ignite conflict, but it is not the source. Men have always used regionalism and ethnicity to defend a political strategy. And now, the Boko Haram and al-Shabaab use Islam to manipulate people. Many listen to them because they are not educated and do not understand the religious texts. And in religion as in politics, women are dominated and have no voice.

What has caused the proliferation of terrorist groups?

The international community and all of us have perhaps made mistakes. Dictators have been overthrown without replacement, which created a political vacuum and space for these groups. And poverty is fertile ground. These groups infiltrating populations are embedded in families. They recruit unemployed youth by promising them paradise and virgins to no end. And they provide communities with what they need: water, electricity, basic education … and everyone closes her eyes. Especially since they are sowing fear.

How can women contribute to their dismantling?

More and more people want to fight against those who take their communities hostage and are not concerned with the interests of the population. The proof is that when their leaders are driven to a village by the military, they are quick to burn everything they had built! To overcome these movements, we must push the state to immediately replace what al-Shabaab and others have set up. People dream of a better world, we must give it to them! But for now, nobody is talking about that. Instead, they talk about military security and intelligence but not the roots of the problem. The State has failed in its responsibility to provide jobs …

In his recent book Africanistan (Fayard, 2015), French scientist Serge Michailof fears that the population explosion in Africa produces the same effects as in Afghanistan. What do you think?

We should not look only at the dark side, there is not chaos throughout Africa. The continent has the resources, and the potential for the greatest economic growth in the world. We have farmland, lakes, oil, sun … and youth who, when properly equipped and motivated, can move mountains. But we need to be better organized. If Africa was not as divided, with 54 countries who look only inward, if we had a comprehensive policy around common interests, we could share our wealth.

Is this the spirit of the Pan-African Vision 2063 action plan, drawn up by the AU?

Absolutely! To achieve it, we consulted everybody: young and old people, women, the private sector … in order to build a prosperous continent, where there may be conflicts, but less violence, and where we can finally benefit from our resources. There is a growing realization: political leaders realize that they involve young people if they want to move forward. And more and more women are involved, are elected, are becoming heads of state. Africa has suffered enough, it is time that men and women of the continent take their destiny in hand, because nobody will do it for them. One objective of the plan is to silence all weapons before 2020, and women certainly have a role to play in that.

Training for Peace

Her work experience in conflict zones has motivated Bineta Diop to create the Pan-African Centre for Gender, Peace and Development in 2005. Located in Dakar, Senegal, the Centre offers training throughout the continent, directly at a community level.

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

A press release from the African Union

The two day meeting of the 26th Ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union officially came to an end today 31 January, 2016 at the African Union Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. The closing ceremony witnessed the appreciation ceremony for stakeholders who supported the African Union’s intervention in the Ebola epidemic.

H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the Commission (AUC), appreciated and acknowledged the African heroes against Ebola and formerly closed the AU Support to the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA) mission. Through the efforts of the AU Commission led by its Chairperson, the African Union sent 855 health workers to the Ebola affected countries. In her remarks, the Chairperson of the AUC thanked the African countries who contributed to the fight against the epidemic. She also saluted the countries which were most affected; Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and the timely response of Mali and Nigeria.

The Chairperson paid tribute to those at the frontline, who paid the ultimate price with their lives, the private sector who initiated the cell phone SMS campaign that enabled citizens to contribute financially, the World Bank, the Red cross, UN agencies as well as the countries that supported the mission. She extended a special appreciation to the young health workers who resigned from their respective jobs and volunteered willingly to assist in the spirit of Pan Africanism and solidarity. Through their efforts, the Chairperson added, the volunteers are now equipped with special skills and expertise that their respective countries will benefit immensely from, and they would also be available in case of any future outbreaks.

Dr Dlamini Zuma, in her conclusion, appealed to Heads of State and government to work together to establish the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and also expand the Africa Risk Capacity to respond to outbreaks.

H.E. Idriss Deby Itno, Chairperson of the African Union brought the 26th Ordinary session of the African Union to an end. In his remarks the AU Chairperson appreciated the environment and atmosphere of the Summit which was peaceful. He thanked the Assembly for their recommendations in respect of the fight against terrorism in Africa. President Deby appealed to all Member States to take seriously, issues which undermine the development of Africa. Dialogue is the key, he said. In addition, he appealed to the African Union to strengthen its efforts to find ways of bringing peace to Burundi and South Sudan. “We cannot tolerant violence which kills thousands of Africans and leaves them displaced, let us all be vigilant and listen to the cries of our people.”

The Chairperson underscored the absolute need to conclude the reforms of the structure of the AU Commission, to facilitate the efforts of the AU in line with the theme of the Summit 2016, i.e. African Year of Human Rights, with particular focus on the rights of women. He said the theme should be given high priority.

“In the course of my tenure, I will be concrete and dedicated to the AU” the Chairperson pledged. He thanked the AUC Chairperson and all her team for a successful summit, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia for hosting, the media, protocol staff and all those that contributed to the successful completion of the 26th Ordinary session.

Can the African Union help bring a culture of peace to Africa?

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

An interview with Mphatheleini Makaulele by Simone Adler and Beverly Bell, for Other Worlds Are Possible

Everybody originated with indigenous ways of living and the way of Mother Earth.

The real role of women is in the seed. It is the women who harvest, select, store, and plant seeds. Our seeds come from our mothers and our grandmothers. To us, the seed is the symbol of the continuity of life. Seed is not just about the crops. Seed is about the soil, about the water, and about the forest.

Women organizing as Dzomo la Mupo. Photo courtesy of Mphathe Makaulele.

When we plant our seeds, we don’t just plant them anytime or anywhere. We listen to our elders, who teach us about the ecological calendar. The seed follows this natural ecological flow. When it bears another seed, that one is planted and the cycle continues.

If you cut the cycle of the seed, you cut the cycle of life. We do not understand how something [like genetically modified and chemically treated seeds] can be called seeds if they cannot continue the cycle of life.

In South Africa, we know there is a freedom of plants to germinate and grow. People are now awakened to the word GMO, and many people are trying to bring forward the issue of food sovereignty.

Here in Limpopo Province, in the indigenous region of Vhavenda, we are organized as the Dzomo la Mupo, the Voice of the Earth. I founded it in 2008. The meaning of mupo is the natural creation of the universe, giving space to every being on the Earth. We have led several campaigns to protect our environment, including campaigns against the Australian mining company Coal of Africa, court cases against development on sacred sites, and registering sacred forests as protected areas under the South African Heritage Resources Agency.

The African Biodiversity Network (ABN), [a regional network of individuals and organizations across twelve countries], is also looking at the issues facing Africa, women, and traditional agricultural practice. The ABN works toward deepening these values and is becoming a big voice in Africa and across the world. The ABN is a home for reviving African values of biodiversity, indigenous practices that bring us health, and traditional farming systems.

I live in an environment of mountains, dense forest, and fertile soil. Our mothers, they selected seed from the previous harvest, which they would plant. We had a way of growing seasonal food and of storing seed from season to season.

Mining is wrongly threatening our water, soil, mountains, and seed and food sovereignty. The government is allowing mining in our soil and the dense, thick mountains, including in tropical areas with good soil and pure water. We need to dialogue about the alternatives to save the forest, rivers, plants, everything in mupo, the Earth.

Commercial farming has dominated traditional farming and food sovereignty, too. It looks only at money as the end product. The seeds depend on chemicals and don’t grow following the ecological, natural flow. Chemical seeds and fertilizers make the soil dry like a crust, like plywood. Our soil is damaged and dry. Our natural seeds that germinated on their own no longer grow in that soil. And this problem is causing the loss of natural foods and traditional farming systems, making our food sovereignty vanish.

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Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

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When the soil is damaged, when the forest no longer has trees to pick fruit from, it affects women first. In Africa, most women are not employed. Our income is the soil where I can grow food, the forest with trees where I can harvest wild, organic fruits, the stream and river where I can fetch clean, pure water. Globally, women who are not employed or educated are experiencing the problem of where to get food and eat the way we have been for generations.

Now, people are depending only on markets [for the food we eat] because their fields are no longer producing natural food, and they have to buy everything, including seeds, resulting in hunger and poverty. People no longer touch the soil for their food; they find the same frozen and packed food in the same shelf in every season.

Not only is this causing a loss of seed and food sovereignty globally, but we women of indigenous ways know that health is affected by the food we eat. We need variety in food. But going to the store year-round and not finding our natural [and seasonal] foods affects our family’s health.

When children and family members are sick, this impacts women first. Women can no longer find the herbs in the forest to cure their sickness because the trees are being cut down and the soil can no longer let the seeds and plants germinate for us to pick the wild greens.

Still, traditional farming is practiced in rural areas, such as -Mahayani in Vhavenda, where there are elder women who have the ancestral knowledge of growing food.

The alternative is to bring back the role of the woman. Young women and girls have to reconnect to the soil and fields of our grandmothers, the forest near our homes, and the indigenous local seeds. Every woman needs to reconnect to the soil. Women also have to teach young girls and young women about seed and food sovereignty and the importance of soil because they’re the ones who will remain to pass that on.

Women are the alternative. We need to revive our technical methods [of farming] through permaculture or agroecology. Even though the soil has been damaged by chemical fertilizers and chemical seeds, there is opportunity to rebuild, harvest, compost, and work the soil to become alive again.

The women of Dzomo la Mupo are bringing food sovereignty to their families. In our home gardens, called muse, and our fields called tsimu, we teach children that food comes from soil, not the market shelves.

Women listen to the ecological calendar and know the seasons for planting, when to select [certain] seeds, and which will produce food. This is the knowledge of women all over the world. Children no longer know about the ecological calendar. What is the future for if we give that up? If we don’t talk about this as women, who will understand?

Women have to fight against the complete destruction of the nearby fields, mountains, and rivers so we can again eat the wild fruit and seasonal food. We are the ones who should defend the remaining indigenous forests from vanishing. Women need to fill the role of talking about [and acting on] the threats to a healthy future generation.

Note: Mphatheleini Makaulele is an award-winning indigenous leader, farmer, and activist, and Director of Dzomo la Mupo, a community organization in rural South Africa. She is also part of the African Biodiversity Network.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)