(Enough Project) – For nearly two decades, eastern Congo has been vexed by widespread violence and atrocities that threaten regional stability. Armed groups continue to use rape as a weapon of war and force children to fight as soldiers. One woman’s story, as reported by the BBC, typifies some of the brutality that has become all too common. 28-year-old Florence was raped along with five other women on the side of the road after their vehicle was stopped on its way from Bukavu. They were then taken into the forest where they were barely fed and were stripped of their clothes. Florence says she was raped daily by two soldiers for two months. When she finally returned home her husband divorced her immediately, and as a result of the sexual abuse she now suffers from abdominal pains. Unfortunately, Florence’s story is not an unfamiliar one. Thousands of women continue to be violated in eastern Congo. Most of these women receive no justice for the crimes committed against them, and they carry with them the stigma of the ordeal. Children are also extremely vulnerable in the conflict. The 5th Report on Children and Armed Conflict stated that there has been 42,000 cases of child recruitment by armed groups and the Congolese army. Children are physically and psychologically tortured, forced to kill, and subject to sexual violence.
