WUNRN
http://refugeesinternational.org/policy/field-report/congolese-women-what-happened-promise-protect
Congolese Women: What Happened to the Promise to Protect?
Direct Link to Full 40-Page 2015 Report:
http://refugeesinternational.org/sites/default/files/ri_drc_field_report-web.pdf
2-3-2015 - It is impossible to talk
about the Democratic Republic of the Congo without talking about sexual
violence. The widespread acknowledgement of gross levels of conflict-related
sexual violence in the DRC spurred the international community to act in an
unprecedented manner to protect women from these atrocities. In particular,
there were two major investments by the United States and the United Nations,
one with an unprecedented level of programmatic funding, the other with a novel
coordination strategy.
While the U.S. and UN interventions yielded
important results, both were built without the benefit of a strong evidence
base to properly understand the context of gender-based violence (GBV) in the
DRC. As a result, some policymakers in the U.S. and at the UN now believe that
because women and girls continue to experience widespread GBV, these
interventions have failed. In turn, some U.S. government policymakers feel that
intervention is futile, and that the DRC is a bucket with the bottom removed,
which no amount of funding can fix. Now, vital resources (both human and
financial) are being transferred towards other competing priorities around the
globe. The U.S. government is also considering new approaches that could
jeopardize GBV survivors’ access to lifesaving care.
At the same time, the UN’s investment, a
new approach to coordination called the Comprehensive Strategy to Combat Sexual
Violence, created a five-pillared system co-led by the UN and the DRC government.
After five years, this coordination strategy has largely failed to avoid
duplication or generate momentum on addressing sexual violence, instead bogging
humanitarian actors down with bureaucracy.
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS:
·
Donor governments, the
United Nations, and humanitarian organizations should take on more gender-based
violence (GBV) initiatives, rather than focusing on conflict-related sexual
violence.
·
The U.S. Agency for
International Development should reinstate funding for stand-alone, multi-sectoral
GBV services that include medical, psychosocial, judicial, socio-economic, and
prevention activities. This funding must support multi-year program cycles and
include community-based organizations in implementation to build
sustainability.
·
Donors should increase
funding for programs that seek to address the root causes of GBV by empowering
women and engaging men.
·
Donor governments, in
particular the U.S., and the UN should pressure the DRC government to seriously
address and prioritize GBV, particularly in the provision of sustainable health
and social services to GBV survivors, as well as on issues of impunity and
security sector reform.
·
The DRC Minister of
Gender, in collaboration with UN Women, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN
Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Refugee Agency, and the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights should overhaul the current National Strategy to
Combat Gender-Based Violence and dissolve the pillared structure for
coordination.
·
In the DRC provinces
where humanitarian clusters are active, UNICEF and UNFPA should activate GBV
sub-clusters.
·
The DRC Ministry of
Gender, Family Affairs, and Children should develop a new national strategy to
combat GBV that coordinates civil society, humanitarian organizations, and the
UN.