Editor's Note: this post was written by Raise Hope for Congo intern Alyssa Cuddy.
On the night of November 22, 2012, witnesses and victims report that Congolese army soldiers raped over 200 civilians from the South Kivu town of Minova. Thirty-nine men were apprehended and put on trial for war crimes including rape and pillage. Yet, due to a culture of high-level impunity, insufficient time, and fewer resources, prosecutors only succeeded in convicting two men for rape and the others for lesser crimes.
In an effort to prevent tragedies like the attack on Minova and the impunity that followed, actress and UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie and British Foreign Secretary William Hague co-chaired the first ever Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London on June 10-13. The summit highlighted what can and must be done to address this widespread issue. Attendees included representatives from more than 100 countries and over 900 experts ranging from NGO representatives to rape survivors to faith organizations, making the event the largest ever to focus on sexual violence in conflict. Enough's Policy Associate Holly Dranginis spoke at the summit on a panel hosted by the UN Special Representative for the Secretary General (SRSG) for sexual violence in conflict. Dranginis says, "Delegates from affected communities spoke powerfully about their experiences, not just as survivors but as lawyers, doctors, and community organizers with decades of experience combatting this problem. It was a time for high-level decision makers to learn from their work and go back to their countries to finally prioritize this issue."
The summit emphasized the need to end impunity by holding perpetrators accountable for their crimes through the launch of a new UK-led International Protocol on the Documentation and ...
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