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FPDH in DRC

KULU and Femmes pour la Paix et Droits Humains ( FPDH), has since 2011 cooperated on a training and capacity building program for FPDH members in the Mwenga territory of the DRC with a focus on reporting, documenting and bringing perpetrators of violence to justice, as well as treating and counseling victims of rape and violence and information and advocacy towards local and regional authorities.

In cooperation with KULU, FPDH has done a huge effort to help create greater security in the area. To this date the project has trained 30 women to work in a number of villages which advocates for women's and human rights, and how rights can protect the individual woman. The trained women also provide psycho-socialcounseling, legal assistance to rapes women, and they focus on increasing women’s awareness of health issues such as HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and rights, general hygiene and nutrition.

The project also established six surveillance centers that report sexual violence to the authorities. The local radio documents the abuses, and mobilizes villages to resist against lawlessness. Women from FPDH are working under difficult conditions and at the risk of their own safety.

The South Kivu province in eastern Congo is an area that for decades has been marked by conflict, lawlessness and violence against women and girls. The rural population in South Kivu is not aware of laws against sexual violence, and thus women cannot report their abuse and held their assault men responsible. Alone in South Kivu there is over 40,000 people who have been raped since 2003, according to The International Rescue Committee.