Programs Current Crises
Violence against women and girls has become a worldwide epidemic.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Democratic Republic of Congo where, according to a recent study conducted by the International Rescue Committee, an estimated 5.4 million people have died from conflict-related causes.
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has been in eastern Congo recently writing about this barbaric civil war where militias continue to rape, mutilate and kill civilians. Read Kristof's columns:
"The Grotesque Vocabulary in Congo" (New York Times, February 11)
I’ve learned some new words.
One is “autocannibalism,” coined in French but equally appropriate in English. It describes what happens when a militia here in eastern Congo’s endless war cuts flesh from living victims and forces them to eat it.
"The World Capital of Killing" (New York Times, February 7)
The brutal war here in eastern Congo has not only lasted longer than the Holocaust but also appears to have claimed more lives. A peer- reviewed study put the Congo war’s death toll at 5.4 million as of April 2007 and rising at 45,000 a month. That would leave the total today, after a dozen years, at 6.9 million.
"From Oprah to Building a Sisternhood in Congo" (New York Times, February 4)
Five years ago, Lisa Shannon watched “Oprah” and learned about the savage, forgotten war here in eastern Congo, played out in massacres and mass rape. That show transformed Lisa’s life, costing her a good business, a beloved fiancé, and a comfortable home in Portland, Ore. — but giving her a chance to save lives in Congo.
"Orphaned, Raped and Ignored" (New York Times, January 30)
Sometimes I wish eastern Congo could suffer an earthquake or a tsunami, so that it might finally get the attention it needs. The barbaric civil war being waged here is the most lethal conflict since World War II and has claimed at least 30 times as many lives as the Haiti earthquake.
You can take action to end violence against women by supporting the International Violence Against Women Act.
The International Violence Against Women Act contains important provisions that would help increase protection for women and girls whose lives have been upended by war or natural disasters.
The bill would improve health care for survivors of violence, strengthen justice systems, and ensure that women and girls have greater access to the education and economic opportunities that would enable them to support themselves and their families.
