UN / DRC

UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallström briefs the Security Council on her recent visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo where more than 300 civilians were raped between 30 July and 2 August in the Walikale region in the eastern part of the country. UNTV / MONUSCO

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:22
• Production Date: 14 October 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS OBSERVER MISSSION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO - MONUC; UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION STABILIZATION MISSION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - MONUSCO
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; DISARMAMENT
• Geographic Subject: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
• MAMS Id: U101014a

Description

STORY: UN / DRC
SOURCE: UNTV/ MONUSC0
TRT: 2.22
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 14 OCTOBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior UN building

14 OCTOBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“A dead rat is worth more than the body of a woman, were the words of one distraught young woman in Walikale. It was an expression of how human rights violations against women are still the lowest on a fool’s hierarchy of war time horrors.”
4. Med shot, delegates
5. Wide shot, Security Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“We must seize the momentum of these arrests to begin turning the tide of impunity. The arrests must serve as a warning to perpetrators of sexual violence everywhere, and we cannot underestimate the importance of such actions for the victims and their communities. This represents a glimmer of hope for them; a moment of solace that the world is not blind to their plight.”
7. Med shot, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“The mass rapes in Walikale demonstrate a nexus between the illicit exploitation of natural resources by armed elements and patrons of sexual violence. It is evident that communities in lucrative mining areas are at particularly high risk. The mineral wealth that should be the source of their prosperity is instead the source of their greatest suffering. I encourage more concerted attention on this aspect; therefore mass rapes that occurred in Walikale should also be investigated from the angle of the competition over mining interests as one the root causes of conflict and sexual violence.”
9. Zoom out, Security Council

FILE – MONUSCO - 2 OCTOBER 2010, KAMPALA VILLAGE, WALIKALE TERRITORY, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

10. Wide shot, Wallström shakes hands with MONUSCO North Kivu Brigade officers on arrival
11. Wide shot, convoy travelling thru dusty roads
12. Wide shot, Wallström walks on bridge entering Kampala village
13. Wide shot, reverse view of Wallström entering Kampala
14. Tracking shot, Wallström is greeted by enthusiastic village women
15. Med shot, interior schoolhouse Wallström shakes hands with welcoming women
16. Close up, concerned-looking woman
17. Various shots, Wallström listening to account by grandmother

Storyline

The Special Representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallström, briefed the Security Council today (14 October) upon her return from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where she visited the victims of recent mass rapes.

Those attacks, which took place mostly after dark, were carried out between 30 July and 2 August by some 200 members of three armed groups – the Maï Maï Cheka, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and elements close to Colonel Emmanuel Nsengiyumva, an army deserter who has in the past been involved with the rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP).

Wallström recounted the words of one of those victims who said that “a dead rat is worth more than the body of a woman” to the armed combatants in the DRC. She added that those words were “an expression of how human rights violations against women are still the lowest on a fool’s hierarchy of war time horrors.”

The known victims include 235 women, 52 girls, 13 men, and 3 boys, some of whom were raped multiple times, according to a UN human rights report issued last month. At least 923 houses and 42 shops were looted and 116 people were abducted in order to carry out forced labour.

Wallström, who visited the country for the second time in six months, welcomed the arrests of ‘Lieutenant Colonel’ Mayele, a commander of the Maï Maï Cheka and of Callixte Mbarushimana, a Rwandan rebel leader was arrested in France today on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last year.

She said that “we must seize the momentum of these arrests to begin turning the tide of impunity”, noting that they must “serve as a warning to perpetrators of sexual violence everywhere.”

She also said that the arrest represent “a glimmer of hope” for the victims and their communities.

The special representative also pointed out that “the mass rapes in Walikale demonstrate a nexus between the illicit exploitation of natural resources by armed elements and patrons of sexual violence.”

She encouraged “more concerted attention on this aspect” saying that “mass rapes that occurred in Walikale should also be investigated from the angle of the competition over mining interests as one the root causes of conflict and sexual violence.”

The Walikale region is rich in cassiterite, the raw material for the elaboration of tin.