Congo’s Rape Epidemic Is Even Worse Than Previously Thought
It’s well known that the Democratic Republic of Congo is suffering from an epidemic of sexual violence, but a new report claims the problem is even worse than estimated; One woman is victimized nearly every minute.
For the new study conducted by three public heath researchers, Amber Peterman of the International Food Policy Research Institute, Tia Palermo of Stony Brook University and Caryn Bredenkamp of the World Bank, 3,436 congolese women were interviewed in 2007. According to the Associated Press, the researchers found that more than 40,000 women had been raped between 2006 and 2007. According to extrapolations, that means that nationwide, 29 Congolese women out of every 1,000 had been raped. That’s 58 times the annual rate in the United States, which is 0.5 per 1,000 women.
The New York Times reports that 12% of those surveyed said they’d been raped at least once, and 22% said they’d been forced to perform sexual acts or have sex by a partner. “Not only is sexual violence more generalized,” said the study, “but our findings suggest that future policies and programs should focus on abuse within families.”