On 25 March, the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice launched its gender justice film for Eastern DRC with a public screening in Bukavu attended by 70 representatives of the provincial government, the Congolese Army, the judiciary and human and women’s rights organisations. Speaking at the launch, Emérite Tabisha Mongelwa, Coordinator of Action de Femmes pour le Développement (AFD) and focal point of the Women’s Initiatives in South Kivu, said: “The situation of rape and sexual violence in eastern DRC gives rise to more questions than answers. We are calling for the prosecution of perpetrators, the provision of reparations to victims and the establishment of peace as a priority.”

The film, Our Voices Matter, includes six powerful interviews with women victims/survivors of sexual and gender-based crimes from three provinces of eastern DRC and portrays the large-scale impunity, limited access to medical services and economic support for victims/survivors and the multiplicity of perpetrators of sexual violence.

Read the press release by the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice

Watch Our Voices Matter here