Click on the link to the 60 Minutes website and watch the video titled "War Against Women." Address the questions, "What could the UN have done to prevent such atrocities? Also, what can the international community do NOW to prevent them from continuing?"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/11/60minutes/main3701249.shtml
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The UN could have sent peacekeepers into the attacked villages. It disturbs me that the UN was well aware of what was going on and just stood back to let it happen. It's understandable if their actions would have caused a bigger conflict but I feel like when 90% of women in numerous villages are raped peacekeepers would be a good idea, or at least some sort of action to show effort.
ReplyDeleteBut like Anneka Van Woudenberg said, "I think what's different in Congo is the scale and the systematic nature of it, indeed, as well, the brutality. This is not rape because soldiers have got bored and have nothing to do. It is a way to ensure that communities accept the power and authority of that particular armed group. This is about showing terror. This is about using it as a weapon of war."
Until the war in Congo stops, rape is unfortunately going to be used as a weapon every single day for the rebels to use as power over villages because what it comes down to is the battle over the precious resources. The internationl community should never ignore the problem, or put it aside for later again. They need to take action immediately. The video had mentioned that most of the villages where the most violence and rape takes place are also located in the most remote places of Congo therefore it is difficult to get to. Perhaps the UN should plan a way to get to these remote areas in order to prevent some of the violence, because the government in Congo is unwilling to do anything about it.
Along with putting more effort into preventing the violence, it would be a good idea to follow in Dr. Mukwege's footsteps and focus on helping these desperate rape victims. They are in dire need of medical attention, and definitely some psychiatric help.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/11/60minutes/main3701249.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody
Things like the hospital that are shown in the video are huge in helping these women overcome the horrific events and move on with their lives, however how much can the UN as bystanders do to help something that is used as a daily weapon? When 90% of women in some villages have been raped, how can u individually help every single one. These men are absolutely brutal. Such as the 24-year-old in the video, they have had their families and their lives destroyed by these men who have a constant necesity to dominate these women. It has become so common that it is now called "a war against women". Yes, the UN has attempted to end this and so have the people of Congo but the soldiers take their warnings, such as the buildboards, as a complete joke. It never disturbed me so much before, but seeing the video really gave me a new perspective on the topic and really connected me to the women. Now, I have never been so disgusted and as a woman in my entire life. It is hard for the UN to end this complete emotional and physical slaughter. Unfortunately, there isn't much the UN can do without breaking the law of a country's sovereighty or not attempting to keep peace. Unfortunataly, until the war is over in Congo, there is nothing the UN can do without taking away its main principles
ReplyDeleteMy question is, what is the UN Peacekeeping mission actually doing? The video tells stories of the women being attacked and raped, but hardly touches on what the UN soldiers are doing. It bothers me that "rape has become common" and hardly anything is being done about it. What I can assume by the video is that the peacekeeping is strictly just trying to find the rapists and leaders of this "war against women..." but that is impossible because rape has become so common; the video even said that civilians have started to rape women.
ReplyDeleteWhat the UN needs to do is to do more helping the women. True, there is the hospital and there are probably many other hospitals, but that is not a hospital I would want to be treated in. The UN should be focused on buidling medical care units, possibly using Doctors Without Borders to help or any doctors willing to help with rape victims.
Not to be a Debby Downer, but it will be nearly impossible to capture all the rapists, as well as finding all the rape victims. What the UN could possibly do is coerse the Congelese government to cease the military from raping innocent women, if not, freeze assets, freeze banking, and possbile something along those lines. But like, Kelsey said, the UN can't really go in without disregarding their principles.
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ReplyDeleteAfter watching the video I think it is pretty clear that the mass rape that is occurring in the DR Congo is not just for the sake of rape, there are clearly underlying issues that need to be addressed. In the end it is a struggle for power, and sadly rape has become the most common weapon. What sets rape apart is that it attacks a woman in all aspects of her life. Physically she is beaten and bruised, not to mention AIDS or other STDs Sometimes women become pregnant by their rapists, like the girl in the video, still others will never be able to have children because of the damage inflicted on her. Emotionally these women are scared, it will take years for them to be able to trust men again, if ever, and especially soldiers. This can make things difficult for the UN peace keepers if they don't have the trust of the local communities. These women are also scared socially. They face complete shame in their community and are many times cut off from everyone else. There in no doubt about the devastation that is happening in the Congo.
ReplyDeleteNow the question is, what can the international community do to prevent them from continuing? As seen in the video, groups like Women for Women are helping women rebuild their lives, by teaching them life skill, how to read and write, and how to make things that can be sold as a part of a business. While this is helping the women recover, their still needs to be a force that is working to prevent the rape from continuing. I think it is important that the underlying cause be solved. The disease needs to be treated in order for the symptoms to stop.
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ReplyDeleteWhat the UN could have done to prevent these horrific acts are implementing punishments for rapists and strengthening the justice system. In the video we were shown a prison where the inmates and completely taken over. This shows the rapists that they can and will get away with anything they do. This is further proven with the fact that very few rape accusations get brought to trial. If the punishments were higher and actually forced, very few rapes would probably be caused. Like we talked about in class, most people obey the law in fear of the repercussions.
ReplyDeleteThese same measures along with a few others can be used to prevent further abuse. Instead of just posters around Congo with silly pictures on it, education can be used to educate men and women the effects of rape. Doctors and volunteers could visit village, and maybe even the Congolese military with proper admittance, informing every one of the dangers of rape. Women for Women could greatly aid this idea. They promote the access to knowledge, a voice in their community, and natural resources which would increase a woman’s status in her community. Increasing female influence and status in village communities transforms women into civilians and not just an object to rape.
http://www.womenforwomen.org/about-women-for-women/victims-to-survivors.php
I agree with Danielle, Women for Women is a great organization for helping women build their lives back up, to what they once were or to an even better status that they could have ever dreamed of. Yet there is still a huge problem; today thousands of people are still victim to the weapon of rape in wars. According to guardian.co.uk, "About 200-400 rebels systematically raped and looted in the town of Luvungi and five nearby villages starting on 30 July, according to the International Medical Corps (IMC)...Husbands were forced to watch their wives being raped, while others were dragged into a nearby forest. The rebels withdrew of their own accord on 4 August, enabling the IMC to move in." The problem with this, is that the town of Luvungi is very close to a UN peacekeeper base.
ReplyDeleteYes, it seems, and it's true, that the peacekeepers are not doing enough to help this situation. However, I feel that they cannot take all the blame, and in fact I feel bad that they recieve most of the blame. There is only so much the peacekeepers can do to help the Congo without creating issues with sovereignty, like we discussed in class. Another thing I agree with that Danielle stated, is that the people of the Congo should be educated, by teachers, not by silly posters and paintings that have graffitti all over them after being hung up for a week. Knowledge is a powerful thing, and I think that the UN can use that to their advantage.
Before I watched the video I was fairly sure of my stance that the UN, in this case, is the most useless entity it possibly could be. There was only one mention of what it was doing for the people and that is that they've set up the camp. The video was also kind enough to inform us that even though the camp is "protected" by troops and the peacekeepers, rape still occurs daily in the camp. It's sad to think these women have the same chances in their own unprotected homes as they do in a guarded camp.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how is it that Dr. Mukwege seems to be the only doctor in the hospital? Is that true or did the cameras just do a good job at hidng the rest of the staff? A serious change in medical support is needed. The UN has made it obvious that they can not protect these women. They need to change their approah in possibly seeking the government to use soldiers with real responsibility in these camps while it also seeks out medical support so we don't have thousands of patients to one doctor. Peacekeepers don't work when they can't work. Why have military might that can't fight?
This situation is so bad it seems irreversible. The amount of crime and rape going on is staggering and horrifying. And there is nothing the citizens of these villages can do about it. They are the victims with no way to defend themselves. The men in their villages have no way to defend the women, so soldiers just come in and do as they wish. For the soldiers it isn't even about rape. Their initiative os to instill fear and terrorize the people. Some of the things these soldiers do are unbelievably traumatizing. One case was extremely shocking. Lucia Marohey was raped repetitively while soldiers were making here little brother watch, and when he would not rape her, they killed him. It is hard to believe that humans are doing this to other humans, and especially hard to believe that no one is doing anything to stop it. Even when criminals are caught and put in jail, the jails have been taken over by the inmates. The whole system down there seems doomed or has little hope. I can not come up with any solutions that would solve their problems but i think it is so important to stop the use of rape as a weapon of war. not only is that a physical attack but it is psychologically devastating too. These women can not go back to there normal life after being raped; they are shamed by their families and turned into outcasts. Even the lucky ones(it doesn't seem right to use that word hear) the ones that are not fatally injured, may have contracted aid or other infection. And in most cases these women have a child to raise after this with no help. It makes me appreciate the fact that i do not have to deal with anything like this so much more.
ReplyDelete-austin
First I have to say that I am deeply saddened by what has happened to these women, but admire their hope and their positive outlook on the future. They are the bravest people on earth in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think people need to stop pointing fingers at eachother and focus on helping these women. They are in deep need of help and have very few places to get help. I think we need to focus less on what should have been done, but rather what can be done now that it has happened.
The raped women need counseling and organizations, such as Women for Women, are trying to help and I think that that is one way for the UN to start cleaning up the mess these rapes have left behind.
Secondly, the UN could work to improve the justice system. Anneka Van Woudenberg said that she could count on her fingers the number of rape cases actually brought to trial. That is pathetic! That is definetly be a major way that the UN could start to resolve this issue.
But lastly, the conflicts need to be resolved, and this, in my opinion is out of the UN's control. I don't believe that the UN is capable of resolving a dispute in which the people involved are not willing to cooperate.
Overall, this is a sad situation that needs to be stopped, but if it cannot, there should at least be ways to make it less prominent.
There were many things that disturbed me in this video, one being they used rape as a weapon. The fact that this has been going on for over a year now truely is devestating. The Un should have attempted to put a stop to this or at least build centers for these women. The one hospitable will never be enough for these women. How will many of them repay that hospitable in the end? Dr. Mukwege is the only man many of them can trust now. Why is there only one man that is willing to help these women out?
ReplyDeleteThe UN should create other hospitables and centers for these women because in the end, one isn't going to be enough. More women get raped each day,a nd one doctor can only care of so many. The fact that this hospitable feeds them and also teaches them how to relive thier life, is a miracle. Not many people seem to be aware of how terrible this situation really is. The UN should be keeping a better job trying to protect these women.
When the women said they were ashamed of what had happened, it broke my heart to think that they believed it was thier fault. It's sad when a women gets raped, but 10x worse when they believe the town is ashamed of them. The UN should try harder to help these women get better and start thier new lives.
I don't think I fully understood how bad the rapes in Congo were until I watched this video. I was horrified and very upset that there is nothing being done about all this. The video said that there are some 500,000 people uprooted from there homes because of the war going on. Not having homes means the men of the village have nothing to fight back at the soldiers who rape their women.The most shocking part of the video for me was when 24 year old Lucia told her story. She got raped by six different soldiers, got pregnant by one, and even had to watch her brother be killed because he refused to rape his sister. That is absolutely not okay.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kelsey that the UN needs to help the women more and I also agree with Danielle and Kailyn that the UN needs to step up their legal system. If the UN put their foot down and really made consequences if the rapes do not stop, I feel that would make a difference. Also if the UN made numerous different organizations that could be safe havens for the women of congo, I think alot of this could be prevented. The UN needs to step it up with the protection of these women because so many of them are being raped every day right underneath their noses and that is unexceptable. To hear that the rapes are now being used as a weapon of war just sickens me and it upsets me that the women feel there is no one there to help them besides that one hospital.
The UN needs to be an authority figure in this situation. They are letting jails be taken over by criminals, they are letting villages be savaged by soldiers, Congo is being run by Evil and something needs to be done. I don't ever think that this issue will go away but hopefully the UN realizes that they really need to put their feet down to help these poor women and to help the country resolve the war and disputes.
The best way to end a problem is through education. The stories of these women need to be made more public to raise awareness and educate the ignorant. We hear about relief funds for Haiti and those living in poverty, but I have rarely, if not ever, heard of a fund to help raped women overseas. It is a difficult thing to fund raise for, because money cannot end this problem. This is not an issue of more food, or more water... it is an issue of protection for the women. Therefore, an increased number of UN troops needs to be sent to try to create some peace. I don't know if the troops include this, but psychiatrists as well as doctors who specialize in female health should be encouraged to spend a month or so helping the raped and injured women there. Awareness and an increase of support could have prevented this problem and can end this problem from raging on. "90%" is a scary statistic...
ReplyDeleteI found this petition:
http://humanrights.change.org/petitions/view/prevention_of_rape_in_the_congo_region
After watching this video, I am left speechless. I had no idea that rape like this was going on anywhere in the world. It is horifying that rape has become a "norm". It is almost as if that if you weren't raped, you were counting down your days. Also, it is very hard to hear that the UN knew about this and just has now entered the situation.
ReplyDeleteI feel like if more people knew about this situation, the more change would happen. In America, it is ridiculous to hear that a woman has been raped. Everyone tries to make her life as good as possible after that point. The rapist is put in jail most of the time. It is very sad that the opposite is true in the Congo. I think that organizations such as Women for Women are needed. It seems that this is the only safe place for women in the Congo. If the safe camps are riddled with rape, then how are women supposed to ever get away from that type of thing? I feel that we need to promote the Women for Women organizations, or any organization that will help the women get out of where they are. The only things that can do this however, is education and support.
90% of women in an average village have been raped. That is a disgusting number. The situation in the Congo has the largest peacekeeping mission in the world; shouldn’t that mean they are getting results? What are they doing if not protecting women from rape? What the UN could do to prevent these horrific events is have more peacekeepers located in villages in remote areas because that is where they said they occurred the most. I know it is hard for the UN to get more peacekeepers but it is a matter of these women’s lives and wellbeing. Also there needs to be more refugee camps that are not riddled with soldiers that are raping the women. If there is no escape for the women from rape then there is no hope for women. The only thing that I can think for the international community to do right now to prevent further atrocities from happening is widespread acknowledgement of the situation. It’s one thing to hear it on the television and just think aw that’s too bad there needs to be uproar in the international community. A way that I think we can do that is through disturbing widespread news about it like the video, but everywhere that everyone will see, even young children. After all this know how people will want to take action through getting more people involved especially with NGOs that will help the situation.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the video I am absolutely disgusted! Not only has rape become the "norm" and 90% is a horrific number, but it also said that they are blaming the women for getting raped and shunning them for fear of HIV and AIDS! That really ticked me off. What I dont understand is how the people in the village can let this happen. I understand that if they stand up and try to protect the women they will be murdered but that is where the UN needs to help, if they got the men of the villages banning together to protect the women plus UN troops to try to keep peace they could achieve a lot more than is going on now. Another thins that disgusted me was that civilians are starting to rape women too! I think it has gotten completely out of hand and something must be done and soon! As for the UN, how much can they really do? Like Kelsey said it is hard for them to really do anything without crossing the line. Of course they are trying to help and sure they could maybe do more but they cant make a law and say "NO RAPE!" no one would listen to it. Unfortunately this problem has gotten so out of hand that it is not going to stop any time soon, but i also agree with everyone else this problem should be brought to peoples attention more, I know by reading everyones comments we are all livid and want to do something, well imagine if everyone saw this video and knew more about it. We can do something about it, and we need to
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing some of the things that the rapists do to their victims in the Congo, I was absolutely disgusted. I had no idea the situation was that bad. I can't imagine a place where 90% of women have been raped. It almost seems unrealistic and knowing that it's actually happening honestly makes me feel sick. What disturbs me even more is the fact that the UN is fully aware of what's going on but hasn't done anything about it yet. How on earth could you just sit back and watch something like this happen? Where are the peacekeepers? It makes me wonder how well the UN does (or doesn't do) their jobs. I couldn't believe it when Anneka Van Woudenberg said "Rape is the norm" as if it were as routine as going to sleep at night. How could anyone let this problem get that far?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading other's comments, it seems like a lot of us weren't aware of just how bad the situation was. I agree with Devin; I think the only way we would be able to help these women is to promote organizations that can help them so that more people can be educated about what's going on in the Congo. We could also voice how we feel about the situation and try to get the attention of those who can do more about it and give them direct help.
Other than that, we can only hope that these poor women will be taken out of their misery and be helped like the women in the shelter, and that the men who have permanently damaged them will receive punishment for their disgusting actions.
I'm not sure there is much anyone can do, as horrible as that sounds. This is horrible and 90% is crazy. Rape is now being used as a weapon of war, so the UN would have to stop the war, help get together a good government, and help put villages together again. The best thing the UN could do is try to really get a peacekeeping mission going that could actually do something, however it will likely get them kicked out of the Congo.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately as much as I want to help these women I feel as though sovereignty is really going to prevent anything major from happening.
I don't know that more media coverage would actually help, but I feel that it is worth a chance so someone out there might have some solutions, because after that video I am at a loss for any.
Like everyone else who has watched this video, i am shocked and bewildered that something this horrible could be happening. I think i am more shocked about the fact that in my eyes, not much is being done to help the women of Congo. I think the UN could have done many more things to help these women and prevent these atrocities. For example, they stated that "...17,000 UN troops and personnel have cobbled together a fragile peace." This does not sound very promising when words like "cobbled together" are used in the sense of stopping such a violent and horrible crime. On the other hand, who are we to blame the UN? They are supposed to be helping these people, but peace keepers are not easy to find. We should be the ones helping if it is so shocking to us. We should not say "that is so upsetting, the UN needs to help" when really the UN needs people to help. So i do not necessarily blame the UN for this, but the atrocities have gotten to the point where there is someone that has to be blamed. Someone needs to step up and take the responsibility for the actions being performed in Congo. If sex, something that is so holy and fragile to some people, is being used as a weapon, this is where our international community steps in and asks what they can do to help or end this problem. Change needs to happen and i think that like Anneka Van Woudenberg, who is the senior Congo researcher at Human Rights Watch said, "This is about showing terror." The terror needs to be ended and the UN and international communities should come together to fix the problem.
ReplyDelete“Rape has become the norm.” this statement from the video is possibly the most disturbing thing I have ever heard. 90% of women in some villages have been raped I cant believe that the situation in Congo could get so bad as to the point where rape is an everyday normal thing and ruining this many lives. This is absolutely disgusting and unacceptable. The UN knew what was going on help for these poor women should have been brought in much sooner before the situation go this bad. If this is the largest peacekeeping operation in the world why does it seem like the situation is not getting any better or even changing at all? It was stated that this is the most deadliest conflict since world war two. Well If that is the case why aren't more army's joining together to put and end to this and stepping in like we did in WWII. When the video started telling the story of Lucy I couldn't even believe what I was hearing. I actually had to start the video over to even attempt to grasp the idea of what had happened to her. I don't think any of us can even wrap our head around what it would be like to be gang raped, see you brother stabbed to death and being forced to be a sex slave. The soldiers using rape as a weapon of war is a terrible and dangerous thought. Rape doesn't only effect the women who is raped it effects her entire family and community. This epidemic of rape is destroying people by the millions. Serious action has to be taken to save these men and women. If they justice can not be provided then focus should be put on helping victims cope and recover. It think women to women is doing what needs to be done by more organizations around the world, providing women a way to rebuild their lives. There should be far more groups set up to help these people who can not help themselves. If the UN can not send in more peace keepers or use force of army to help stop the rape they should at least set up more medical help centers where women can go to get help after being raped with physical and mental issues. I'm sure sovereignty plays a part in the UN trying to help but I still feel with an issue the extreme with so many lives in danger more needs to be done. From reading the other post it seems as though most of us agree and have similar opinions on the situation and the action that needs to be taken.
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