[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1227 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1227

Condemning sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 
  calling on the international community to take immediate actions to 
                        respond to the violence.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 2008

Mrs. Maloney of New York (for herself and Mr. Miller of North Carolina) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Condemning sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 
  calling on the international community to take immediate actions to 
                        respond to the violence.

Whereas the situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has been 
        recognized as the worst crisis of violence against women in the world, 
        according to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against 
        Women;
Whereas the Democratic Republic of the Congo has experienced the world's 
        deadliest crisis since World War II, with 5.4 million deaths since 1998;
Whereas hundreds of thousands of women and girls have experienced an 
        exceptionally violent type of rape in the Democratic Republic of the 
        Congo, and the full extent of incidence of sexual violence is unknown as 
        most survivors live in inaccessible areas, are afraid to report the 
        attacks, experience repeated rapes, or did not survive them;
Whereas sexual violence is used as a method of warfare by all parties to the 
        conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a means to terrorize 
        and destabilize entire communities;
Whereas in 2007, it was estimated that 70 percent of all rapes in South Kivu 
        were committed by nonstate armed groups, including foreign militia from 
        Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda, 16 percent by Democratic Republic of the 
        Congo military forces, and 14 percent by civilians;
Whereas control over the Democratic Republic of the Congo's natural resources is 
        central to the ongoing conflict;
Whereas in 2002, the United Nations Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation 
        of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic 
        Republic of the Congo considered nine United States business enterprises 
        to be in violation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises;
Whereas, on July 30, 2007, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence 
        Against Women reported, ``Women are brutally gang raped, often in front 
        of their families and communities. In numerous cases, male relatives are 
        forced at gun point to rape their own daughters, mothers or sisters. 
        Frequently women are shot or stabbed in their genital organs, after they 
        are raped. Women, who survived months of enslavement, [said] that their 
        tormentors had forced them to eat excrements or the human flesh of 
        murdered relatives'';
Whereas rape with the use of knives, gun barrels, beer bottles, cassava roots, 
        or sticks can result in a tear or fistula between a woman's vagina and 
        bladder or rectum, or both, causing the development of traumatic 
        gynecologic fistula;
Whereas women and young girls have even had their mouths cut off by their 
        attackers so that they won't report the crime to authorities;
Whereas survivors of sexual violence are at an increased risk for unwanted 
        pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and long-
        term psychological trauma;
Whereas the Panzi Hospital, a specialized institution in South Kivu, receives 
        about 3,500 cases annually of women who suffer from traumatic fistula 
        and other severe genital injuries resulting from these sexualized 
        atrocities;
Whereas at Heal Africa Hospital in Goma, doctors reported treating 4,800 rape 
        victims who required medical treatment and in 2005, they performed 242 
        fistula-repair operations;
Whereas since 2002, over 40,000 survivors have accessed International Rescue 
        Committee-supported services, including psychosocial support, medical 
        care, legal assistance, and socioeconomic support;
Whereas current activities to treat survivors meet only a portion of the need;
Whereas the scope of the sexual violence affects women and girls of all ages, 
        from 10 months to 80 years old;
Whereas a culture of impunity continues and rape has become a societal norm;
Whereas in July 2006, the Congolese Parliament passed the Law on the Suppression 
        of Sexual Violence, which attempted to strengthen penalties and criminal 
        procedures, but in reality, little action has been taken by the 
        authorities to implement the law and perpetrators continue to enjoy 
        impunity;
Whereas, on October 31, 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted 
        Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls on all parties to an armed 
        conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from 
        gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual 
        abuse, and all actors involved in peace processes to adopt a gender 
        perspective, including through the involvement of women in all stages of 
        peace processes and support local women's peace initiatives and 
        indigenous processes for conflict resolution;
Whereas the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which entered into 
        force on July 1, 2002, states that rape ``and any other form of sexual 
        violence of comparable gravity'' may constitute both ``crimes against 
        humanity'' and ``war crimes''; and
Whereas the United States Government has codified its commitment to the 
        Democratic Republic of the Congo through the Democratic Republic of the 
        Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006 (Public Law 
        109-456): Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) strongly condemns the use of all forms of sexual 
        violence, including rape, in the Democratic Republic of the 
        Congo;
            (2) condemns the actions of all armed groups in the 
        Democratic Republic of the Congo, including militias and rebel 
        groups, such as the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du 
        Rwanda (FDLR), Mai-Mai Militia, and the Front for Patriotic 
        Resistance of Ituri, that have created a culture of impunity 
        for rape and sexual violence;
            (3) calls on the Government of the Democratic Republic of 
        the Congo to develop a strategy to address and end the large-
        scale sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 
        by--
                    (A) protecting its civilians from violence and to 
                respect and enforce the rule of law in accordance with 
                international norms and standards;
                    (B) holding all armed groups accountable for their 
                actions by implementing judicial reforms to 
                investigate, arrest, and try suspected criminals;
                    (C) prosecuting and punishing members of the 
                Congolese Armed Forces who have committed crimes of 
                sexual violence and other atrocities; and
                    (D) establishing a verification mechanism to ensure 
                that officers with a track record of criminal activity 
                and rape do not receive important posts in the 
                Congolese Armed Forces, the national police, and other 
                security services;
            (4) urges an increased effort by the United States through 
        the Department of State and other donor countries to provide 
        greater assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for 
        police and military human rights education and training, and 
        training for those in the judicial and law enforcement sector 
        in order to improve their ability to investigate and prosecute 
        rapists;
            (5) strongly urges the United States Agency for 
        International Development to increase its assistance to victims 
        of rape and sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the 
        Congo by investing greater resources to nongovernmental 
        organizations to provide health care services and medical 
        supplies, psychological and social counseling, and legal advice 
        to victims of rape and sexual violence;
            (6) encourages the Secretary of State, in line with the 
        policy objectives set forth in the Democratic Republic of the 
        Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006 
        (Public Law 109-456), to support the Democratic Republic of the 
        Congo and neighboring countries in their implementation of the 
        Great Lakes Pact and its protocol on the Prevention and 
        Suppression of Sexual Violence Against Women and Children;
            (7) calls on the Secretary of State to appoint a special 
        envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to sustain United 
        States engagement in a peace process and stabilization 
        programs, and to continue its leadership towards the 
        implementation of the Nairobi communique;
            (8) encourages the Secretary of State to continue to work 
        with the heads of the other agencies implementing programs in 
        the Democratic Republic of the Congo to develop a plan for 
        systematically assessing the United States Government's overall 
        progress in achieving the policy objectives of the Democratic 
        Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion 
        Act of 2006;
            (9) calls on the Secretary of State to encourage the 
        Congolese Government to refer individuals or armed groups found 
        guilty of rape and sexual violence consistent in magnitude to 
        crimes against humanity and war crimes to an international 
        criminal court system;
            (10) encourages the international community to ensure 
        greater coordination in its response to sexual violence and to 
        provide further humanitarian assistance, particularly social 
        development assistance offering psychosocial support, medical 
        assistance, civic education aimed at preventing sexual 
        violence, and reintegration support to survivors of sexual and 
        gender-based violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the 
        Congo;
            (11) reaffirms its support for constitutional government, 
        the rule of law, human rights, and democratic processes in the 
        Democratic Republic of the Congo and calls upon regional 
        African leaders to support the preservation of a democratic 
        political system in the country;
            (12) encourages full implementation of United Nations 
        Security Council Resolution 1325 and related law and policy on 
        the protection of women and girls and the promotion of their 
        rights by emphasizing the responsibilities of all countries to 
        put an end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible for 
        genocide crimes, including those related to sexual and other 
        forms of violence against women and girls;
            (13) calls on the Secretary General of the United Nations 
        and the permanent members of the Security Council to 
        immediately take steps to--
                    (A) ensure that the United Nations Mission in the 
                Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) is fully 
                funded to increase troop presence in the eastern Kivu 
                provinces;
                    (B) deploy MONUC to areas where sexual violence is 
                most prevalent;
                    (C) include an adequate number of female troops and 
                police in MONUC to properly manage incidents of rape 
                and sexual violence; and
                    (D) provide more in depth and continuing gender 
                sensitive training to its peacekeepers; and
            (14) encourages a transparent process for the government of 
        the Democratic Republic of the Congo's review of contracts 
        mining and strongly encourages United States companies 
        investing and operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 
        exert oversight concerning where their products are coming from 
        and who is benefitting from the trade.
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