Executive summary

In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis at the national and international levels around the need to prevent and address widespread sexual violence in situations of conflict and crisis. However, despite these efforts, acts of sexual violence in situations of conflict and crisis continue to be perpetrated on a significant scale around the world, shattering lives, fracturing communities and aggravating the destruction wrought by war, disaster and civil strife.

The Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (the Subcommittee) has held a number of hearings on the issue of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict and other crises.[1] This report aims to cast light on the causes and consequences of this troubling phenomenon through a case study of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Over the course of its hearings, the Subcommittee was told that misconceptions of conflict-related sexual violence have led to gaps in policy responses, contributing to the persistent and pervasive nature of the problem. As the former Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallström, has said, the challenge is to “debunk the myths that fuel sexual violence” such as the notion that rape is an inevitable by-product of war.[2] Witnesses stressed that, rather than being a natural collateral effect of armed conflict, i.e., an expected result of the chaos and societal breakdown generated by war, sexual violence may be used deliberately in armed conflict to destroy communities and achieve political, economic and military objectives. The Subcommittee also heard testimony regarding sexual violence perpetrated in post-conflict situations, following natural disasters and in other situations of crisis and political repression. Witnesses noted that several underlying factors contribute to shaping an environment in which sexual violence can occur, including entrenched discriminatory practices and attitudes, weak rule of law, poverty and lack of economic opportunity, and a climate of impunity for perpetrators.

As part of its broader study of these issues, the Subcommittee focused a considerable number of its hearings on the DRC, the eastern regions of which have been labelled the “rape capital of the world.”[3] Indeed, the DRC has become a focal point of international concern because of the extremely high incidence of acts of sexual violence that have been committed against women and girls, especially in the eastern part of the country, where armed conflict has been a constant feature of life for decades. The Subcommittee’s report highlights the magnitude of the crimes being committed in the DRC and the extremely negative effect they are having on the human rights of women and girls, as well as those of men and boys.

The evidence received by the Subcommittee identified a number of key factors contributing to the prevalence of sexual violence in the DRC, particularly in the eastern provinces:

• widespread discrimination against women in Congolese law and society;
• weak rule of law and a critically under-resourced justice sector that lacks capacity, independence and impartiality, leading to pervasive impunity;
• an ineffective, ill-disciplined security sector that is not subject to effective civilian control; and
• competition between armed groups and individuals for control of natural resource revenues in a region affected by widespread poverty and lack of economic opportunity.

In light of the breadth of factors that contribute to the prevalence of sexual violence in the DRC and in other situations of conflict and crisis, witnesses argued that international efforts to address the problem must take a holistic, multi-sectoral approach and commit to implementation over the long term.

This report presents the Subcommittee’s observations and recommendations regarding the steps that it believes the Government of Canada can take to continue its leading role in the global fight against sexual violence related to conflict and other forms of instability.