(Réseau des Femmes pour un Développement Associatif; Réseau des Femmes pour la Défense des Droits et la Paix; International Alert / International Alert, 2005). This report examines the use of sexual violence in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and demonstrates how women and girls in the DRC have been exploited as producers and reproducers both in order to maintain fighters and ensure their day-to-day survival as well as to provide them with sexual services. The question addresses several key questions, including: 1] What forms of sexual violence have been committed against women and girls in South Kivu? 2] What are the direct and indirect consequences of these acts of violence? 3] Do the victims themselves, their community or support organisations use or suggest any specific means of helping the victims? 4]
What is it that drives some members of armed groups involved in the conflict in DRC to commit acts of violence and sexual abuse against girls and women? 5]
Are there any motivating factors of an ideological, political, psychological or sociocultural nature at the core of the violence and sexual abuse perpetrated against women in South Kivu? If so, what are they? The study is divided into nine chapters and the authors conclude that rape in conflict in the DRC was a coordinated tool used to degrade enemies and rip apart societies, and that it has had lasting social, physical, and public health repercussions. The paper concludes with recommendations to the UN, to the international community, to the government of the DRC, and to the South Kivu Civil Society Co-ordination Office on how to deal with victims, perpetrators, and the lasting legacy of this violence.