{"id":300,"date":"2019-12-03T22:12:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T22:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panzifoundation.org\/?p=300"},"modified":"2021-04-11T16:40:47","modified_gmt":"2021-04-11T16:40:47","slug":"news-archive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panzifoundation.org\/news-archive\/","title":{"rendered":"News Archive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

December 31, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bukavu, DRC \u2014 Message from Dr. Denis Mukwege for the End of the Year<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the night of December 30, 1998, the day before New Year’s Eve, the people of Makobola, 150 km south of Bukavu, hoped for a peaceful end-of-year celebration. Women and men joyfully prepared for celebrations, lulled by the gentle warmth of the Ruzizi plain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bursts of laughter infused with innocence filtered from the huts. Life was in full swing when suddenly a horde of criminals surrounded the village. For this community, it was the end\u2014the unspeakable had arrived. Women were raped before being shredded by Kalashnikov machine guns. Men were chopped by machetes. Children’s bodies were charred in an exterminating fire motivated by greed and hatred. The next day the macabre count reported 702 decimated bodies, hastily buried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even today, the only grave these children, women and men have is the deafening silence of the national and international community. This is the same silence which has embalmed six million dead from the Congo Wars. Yet, a mapping report exists where the experts of the United Nations methodically and professionally describe the places of the massacres, the perpetrators, the methodology of the murders, the number of victims, and so on. This report should be exhumed from the drawers of the United Nations, where it has languished for years. Only then will the ringleaders and executioners of Makobola and Kasika be toppled from their pedestals and from the power that they continue to hold in the region, shrouded by arrogance and impunity. Twenty years later, these desecrated bodies and their broken lives cry not for revenge, but for justice. Until this justice arrives, Makobola and the many other regions of mass crimes, crimes against humanity, and even crimes of genocide committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo will remain a gaping wound on the conscience of our common humanity. Their memory will haunt us forever. Their memory will continue to be written in indelible ink of blood and shame. Their memory will be a legacy of irresponsibility from our generation to future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 31 is traditionally a holiday for us. But it should also and most importantly also be a day of refusal\u2014refusal to forget the 55 women raped on New Year’s Eve 2011 in the Misufi district of Fizi under the order of Colonel Kibibi supported by foreign troops. Despite immediate sentencing, this case is now entering its ninth year of unsuccessful trial. Let us not forget either the hundreds of thousands of raped women, the massacred families, and many others who will not celebrate with us, those who perished in DR Congo and elsewhere around the world; whether Rohingya or from Beni, from Iraq or Mwenga, from Libya or Minembwe; those who have been torn from our affection by the barbarity and greed of men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are thinking of them\u2014sympathizing with the suffering of the survivors will be an act of responsibility and collective dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best wishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Denis Mukwege<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 10, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo \u2014 One year after the Oslo ceremony, the first Congolese Nobel Prize Recipient in history presents his review of a year of advocacy<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since December 10, 2018, the date when the Nobel Peace was awarded in Oslo to Nadia Murad and me, I have traveled around the world as part of a global campaign for women\u2019s human rights, justice, and peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have witnessed a growing global awareness of the existence and gravity of the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and as a strategy of domination and terror, and even extermination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This recognition is crucial because to tackle a problem, it must first and foremost be recognized. This was the case in the past, so it\u2019s a significant change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the global level, we note with satisfaction several developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the Global Fund for Survivors was officially launched on October 30 in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 10 years, we have have been advocating at the national and international levels for reparations for victims of sexual violence, without receiving enough attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Nobel Prize, we have received much more support from several states, including France and Germany, as well as from the European Union, which have already committed to assist us in the restoration of the dignity of the survivors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This innovative, survivor-centered and needs-based mechanism will address current gaps in domestic and international justice, and will consist of a fund that will provide reparations through individual and collective rehabilitation and rehabilitation programs and projects. In countries that deny responsibility or need support, we will support them through technical and\/or financial assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, the G7 Summit in Biarritz last August focused on gender equality and sexual violence in conflict, and I had the honor of co-chairing the Advisory Council for Gender Equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with a diverse group of individuals, all committed to the human rights of women, we have identified 79 progressive legislative measures adopted by legislators from all continents, and we have proposed a legislative package oriented on four axes aimed at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n