Risk of Sexual Violence: Perspectives and Experiences of Women in a Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

Sexual violence in conflict situations is gaining worldwide recognition as a human rights issue. There is growing awareness and concern about the risks associated with sexual violence against women. This study was conducted in order to explore the perceptions and experiences of the risk of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The study draws on qualitative, in-depth interviews with women at a hospital in Bukavu. The findings show that women suffered humiliation, torture and beatings during their rape. Most women were raped by a number of men and others were forced to have sex with close family members. The rapist often used extreme brutality against the women which had major long-term consequences for women including unwanted pregnancies and/or HIV/AIDS. Many of the women experienced great uncertainty about their future and that of their children.

Influential factors and barriers to opt for the uptake of HIV testing among the adult population at HIV-care admission in an area in the DR Congo: What can we learn?

“…Furthermore, we noted in this present study a higher proportion of female patients than male. This phenomenon was observed in most other studies in DRC [5,[23][24][25][26][27], lack of adherence to preventive measures during sexual contact [28], and socio-cultural factors such as multiplicity of sexual partners and socioeconomic dependence of women in a context of poverty have been advocated for this [29][30][31][32].…”

Access to reproductive health care services in countries of conflict: the double impact of conflict and COVID-19

“…During conflict, laws and social norms disintegrate resulting in an increased risk of gender-based violence and sexual assault. Sexual violence may be perpetrated by the police and military forces to punish, intimidate and assert their dominance, and has been described by its victims as brutal and cruel (Zihindula and Maharaj 2015). Rape may be used as a weapon of war; in fact, being a woman during conflict has been described as being more dangerous than being a soldier (OHCHR 2008, IAWG 2018.…”

Forced sexual intercourse and its association with HIV status among people attending HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing in a healthcare center in Kinshasa (DRC)

“…In the DRC 82% of children <15 years old have suffered some kind of violence, 52% of women at some moment of their life (with 13% of physical violence during the pregnancy), and up to 75% find a justification for a man to hurt his female partner [16][17][18]24]. Additionally, the DRC has the serious and specific problem of rapes in a context of chronic war in the East of the country [25][26][27][28][29]. Although the 2014 national Demographic and Health Survey analyzed the prevalence of sexual violence among women 15-49 years old (27% national and 13% in Kinshasa, the capital city), (as well as physical (52%) and psychological violence (37%) [16,24,26], there is no specific information about sexual violence among men, the healthcare and HIV testing context, the socio-structural determinants or about its association with different sexual risk behaviors or HIV infection.…”