Mapping Report > Section II. Specific Acts of Violence > CHAPTER I. Acts of violence committed against women and sexual violence > Conclusion

Acts of sexual violence enjoy blatant impunity in the DRC. Few cases reach the justice system, even fewer lead to trials and fewer still to convictions. Even in the rare cases where convictions are obtained, the defendants almost always escape from prison.¹¹⁸⁸ Because of the near-total impunity that has reigned in recent years, the phenomenon is continuing in areas where the fighting has ended and has increased in areas where the fighting is still ongoing.

It seems clear that brutalities such as those described in this chapter could not have taken place without the consent, at least tacit, of those people in positions of power who allowed impunity to become established. Acts of sexual violence were committed at roadblocks, near military camps, during patrols, during prison visits, at police stations and in the homes of both victims and perpetrators. People in positions of power, teachers, police officers and civil servants, also took advantage of the institutional decay and widespread impunity to commit rapes.

There is absolutely no doubt that the scale and gravity of acts of sexual violence are directly proportional to the victims’ lack of access to justice and that the impunity that has reigned in recent decades has made women even more vulnerable than they were before. In 2006, in its concluding comments, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was concerned that, “in the post -war transition period, the promotion of women’s human rights and gender equality is not seen as a priority, in particular in efforts to address the consequences of the armed conflict and in the peace building and reconstruction processes.”¹¹⁸⁹

Resolution 1820 (2008) of the Security Council dated 19 June 2008 highlighted that “sexual violence, when used or commissioned as a tactic of war in order to deliberately target civilians or as a part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilian populations, can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security”. The high prevalence of sexual violence during and after the different conflicts in the DRC thus calls for transitional justice mechanisms to be established that take into account this issue, the needs of the victims and of their communities, and the need to rebuild a future for Congolese society in which women are stakeholders, and in which the traditional political and structural inequalities are corrected.¹¹⁹⁰ Finally, to effectively combat sexual violence, reforms of the justice and security sectors will be necessary. To achieve this, however, firm political commitment and coordinated efforts will be required from all given that, due to the near-total impunity that has reigned in recent years, the phenomenon continues today even in areas where the fighting has ended and has increased in those areas where fighting is still ongoing.