The Violence and Rape in the Eastern Congo and America - Thesis Example

? The violence and rape in the Eastern Congo and America The paper deals with violence and high rates of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo and rapes of indigenous women in America. It is claimed further on that the number of women, who are the victims of sexual violence, is constantly growing. There is a direct correlation between the local levels of sexual violence growth, decrease of social and living standards and also a growing number of crimes committed by the local authorities and militia. Key words: sexual violence, rape, local authorities, military and political conflicts. The violence and rape in the Eastern Congo The violence and rape toward modern women is one of the most crucial problems in the modern globalized world. Both women from developed and developing countries are subjected to aggressive behaviors and attitudes. This research project is focused on the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and women’s rape in the country, as well as the growing number of rape victims in America among indigenous women. There are numerous risk factors, which may occur in the result of rape. These are: widowhood, husband abandonment, gang rape, and having a child from (Jackson, 2006). The above-mentioned facts may lead to social rejection of a raped woman. Therefore, rape is positioned not only as a moral and physical infliction, but also as a socially destroying factor. A decade of fighting in the eastern part of Congo resulted in undermining of the country’s infrastructure, economical and development indicators decrease et cetera. Genocide in Rwanda was another intimidating factor for the people living in Congo (Wakabi, 2007). There was no stability in the country at all and there was a need to take appropriate measures in order to identify preventive strategies against further collapse of the country. From the beginning of the conflict, more than 200, 000 cases of sexual assault were registered. In accordance with the modern data, 40% of women and 24% of men witnessed sexual violence (Autesserre, 2006). Taking into account data of Focus Group Design and Sample Selection Survivors of violence, researchers appealed for the local hospitals in the search for appropriate data and potential possibility of negotiation with the victims of violence and rape. In accordance with data provided about the group in Kiswahili, two-thirds of women (68.9%) experienced gang rape (rape by more than one assailant on the same occasion) and 46% of women reported being abducted (they were raped for more than one day) by their assailants (Hanlon, 2008). Uniformed attackers raped more women and were suspected of gang rape, instead of non-uniform assailants. Moreover, these women experienced not only physical and psychological impact, but were also rejected by their families and communities. They had to look for a place to live and where to go in case their community rejected from their presence. They were stigmatized in their communities and very often people pointed at these women by their fingers. It is evident that a woman experienced a feeling of shame and humiliation when witnessing such kind of social malpractice. Husbands of women were described by the victims of rape in the following way: “They repudiate us. They know that we have been raped and that we have been infected. So to save their lives they abandon us” (Grewal, 2010). There are no enough opportunities for taking care of women, who were inflicted in the process of rape. These women are always positioned as victims, which have no way back. They do not have enough opportunities to live their previous lives, because the illnesses they have and many other intimidating factors they experience are degrading their lives. Rapes of indigenous women in America The number of indigenous women raped in the in the US is 2.5 times larger to a general population of women in America. Indigenous population has always been marginalized and they lacked of their rights and they have never been sound member of any society. This fact can explain an ongoing raise of the number of rapes among Native American women. These people are much concerned about their ethnicity, their traditions and customs but very often at the governmental level these needs are not met. In order to discuss preventive measures taken against rapes of indigenous women in America, it should be noted that governmental measures and status of these people in the country play the crucial role for determination of their further performance internationally. Women, who experienced rapes very often do not complain about that and do not report about those drastic events to the authorities. They have no power and emotions to fight against a huge mechanism, which has undermined their national identities and as a result they are subjected to non-human attitudes and even rapes. The first reason to prevent rapes among indigenous women in America is to increase their living standards and make them more financially independent. There is a need to decrease confusion among different authorities, which do not follow the same laws and legal rules in regulating of crime preventive practices. Thus: “Responses depend on where the crime takes place and who’s jurisdiction it falls under and whether the crime will even be attempted to be brought to justice. The maze of tribal state and federal law contributes to confusion regarding which jurisdiction the law falls under. There’s State (District Attorney), Federal (US Attorney) and Tribal Prosecutor” (Widespread Rape of Indigenous Women). It is evident that a victim of rape has no chance to appeal for a certain authority without an evident degree of confusion. The tribal courts may imprison an assailant, but only for one year. The federal courts sentence such kind of criminals to 8-12 years of imprisonment. In case indigenous women leave in remote villages, they have no opportunity to complain to anyone around them and thus suffer from different kinds of sexual violence. Preventive strategies against rapes in Congo and America In order to outline possible preventive strategies against rape, it is suggested to develop educational programs within communities focused on strategies how to live after rape and the way communities may accept women after rape. Discussing the services that would be most helpful, there is a need to provide the members of the community with additional counseling and the community instructions indicating how to accept women after rape correctly. Women in the Eastern part of Congo claim: “There is a need to teach both husband and wives, to tell them that what occurred was just an accident that neither of them wanted to happen” (Goff, 2010). Moreover, there is a need to provide women with the ability to pass HIV or STI tests. The negative factor is that women did not believe in justice and protection of their rights or legal punishment of their assailants. Men with the arms are following women and even men in their cruel attempts to rape them and there is no way to prevent these intimidating practices (Peterman, Palermo, Bredenkamp, 2011). There is a need to develop social practices to prevent a negative social perception of the victims of rape, but also work at the absence of isolation about these women. It is relevant to develop and establish counseling practices between men and women, introduce economic practices, which will facilitate the process of social adaptation of men and women. It is evident that sexual violence disintegrates the society in the Eastern part of Congo and it is necessary to take appropriate measures in order to decrease negative practices of violence and the wide-spread rape in the Republic of Congo and rape of indigenous women in America (Langholtz, Kondoch & Wells, 2005). On the example of America, there is a need for cooperation for federal organizations and indigenous people in order to protect the latter from a danger to be raped. One of possible strategies is to collect data about the case of rape. Moreover, it is relevant to make this data public in order everybody knows the real value of governmental protection of indigenous women. There is another option to develop a Sexual Assault Response Team. International preventive practices against rape Starting from 2004, the international community became very much focused on the problems of violence and rape in Congo. Both, National and local NGOs are providing the victims of rape in Congo with governmental funding focused on increase of social support and medical support for the victims of rape. FARDC troops are unaware of social, legal and rights’ protection policies in Congo. The DRC adopted law against violence and rape in the country in 2006, which is focused on prevention not only of rape, but also “forced pregnancy, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, and forced sterilization” (Trenholm, Olsson, Ahlberg 2011). The value of NGOs should be estimated from the new perspective and it is relevant to develop certain conditions against violent practices against Congo women. If to follow the conditions of the UN regulations and the provisions of MONUC, it is evident that the crimes committed against girls and women will be focused on crimes prevention with regards to violent moods of rebellions, soldiers and militia, which are accused of violation of human rights in general and assault on women in particular. It should be noted that in order to accuse high-ranking officials fairly, it is relevant to make them responsible for their crimes of sexual violence and strengthen political basis for further support of the assailants’ persecution. The same can be said about a lack of punishment of rapes in America, because authorities are not often punished for their rapes’ commitment. The root of evil is the high level of corruption in the country and a lack of a strong legal basis both in America and Congo. Women in these countries are often subjected to sexual violence and rape. There is a need to improve the life standards and the life levels in Congo and living standards of indigenous women in America in order to promote non-corruption background for fair judgments. There is a clear dynamical development of laws in Congo concerning protection against violence. For example, in 1940 the Congolese Criminal Code criminalized only three sexual offenses such as “indecent assault, outrage to public morality, and rape” (Lemarchand, 2009). The main drawback is that rape was not properly identified and marital rape was not considered to be a crime, for example.  There is no still exact definition of rape and it should be mentioned that adult women are rarely considered to be the victims of rape, because they were not previously considered to be virgins. The national justice system is considered to be weak and the potential victims of rape remain unprotected. The transitional government in DRC in 2005 issued an amnesty law and there is a great delay of anti-violence laws performance. The laws protection rights of victims of violence should not be compensated by the amnesty. Those, who committed sexual violence against a person should not be protected and forgiven for sure. Therefore, it is relevant to outline possible long-and short-term measures taken against the roots of sexual violence. There is a need to prevent marital rape as well. In the Congolese society a woman is subjected to needs and wants of her husband and she has no right to express her individual wishes and desires. Raping in the society is considered as an assault of a woman’s family and not only against her. The assailant has to pay for her family or to marry a raped girl. A Congolese and indigenous American woman has no right to participate in the political or social issues decision making in the country and of course, there is no a sound possibility to protect a woman from violence. Congolese women should have an opportunity to become a part of social or political movements in the country, in order the society could listen to her voice. The Security Council underlined the necessity for a woman “to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict.” (Ibid.) The Congolese women and indigenous women in America are aware of their bitter experience of sexual violence in the country. Unfortunately, thousands of women witness sexual assault and it should be noted that these women should be restored both physically and emotionally and it is really needed to fight against social and family stigmas imposed of the victims of rapes. These women were inflicted by non-humans and it takes much time to renovate their physical and emotional conditions. In order to prevent these practices in the DRC and America, it is relevant to tell the public truth about potential hazards of sexual violence and many other intimidating factors preventing proper functioning and performance of women in the Congolese society or America (Lemarchand, 2009). It is necessary to delimit the problems of violence to national level and avoid considerations of these problems only in terms of military or political conflicts. A perfect option is to create a commission focused on considerations about sexual violence problems. Another option is to establish specific tribunals focused on rape criminals’ punishment. Conclusion It is evident that sexual violence in the DRC and America has deep historical roots and it is evident to consider this problem under conditions of the social acceptance. There is a need for local authorities and the international community to acknowledge the problem of violence and rape. The potential victims of violent crimes and rape should be compared with the number of victims, which occurred in the result of military and political conflicts. There is a need to calculate the number of potential victims of violence and consider those suffered from violence. The latter can be even greater that those suffering from rape and violence. There is a need to initiate many attempts different, the location of funds and monetary services to provide aid for the victims of violence and rape. It is relevant to take into account the background information focused on different aspects of living standards in Congolese Republic and in the remote villages of America. There is a need to take into account economic standards, political norms and social aspects in order to fight against sexual violence. Therefore, it is relevant to develop preventive practices at both local and international levels and decrease tension between peace and justice concerning women. In the modern global world, it is relevant to take into account their interests, peculiarities, respect and tolerance. A woman is a sound member of the Congolese society and a non-native American woman as well and it should be noted that these women should not be maltreated. The Congolese’s government reputation is undermined by the high level of corruption, the absence of the governmental credibility, the absence of law enforcement et cetera. 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