Abstract
The transition from war to peace cannot be achieved without reconciliation between the various groups within society who have been fighting each other — a reconciliation that also takes place through the acknowledgement of sexual assaults on women. Too often the law of silence condemns these women to remain on the periphery of their society, withdrawn inside their own suffering, unable to grieve for a violent past. In March 2009 the international community hailed the peace agreement between the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the rebellion of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). This agreement provided for Kinshasa’s promulgation of a law of amnesty for former rebels. The part played in acts of sexual assaults on women by rebels of the CNDP has been very fully documented in various reports by organisations for the defence of human rights. Despite the advances in international human law which recognise sexual assault as a serious crime of violence, it is clear that impunity continues to prevail for violators of the rights of women.
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Notes
Ashnie Padarath, “Les femmes et la violence au Kwazulu-Natal”, in M. Turshen and T. C. Twagiramariya, eds, Ce que font les femmes en temps de guerre: Genre et conflit en Afrique, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2001, p. 90.
Boris Cyrulnik, Autobiographie d’un épouvantail, Paris, Odile Jacob, 2008, p. 50.
Amrit Wilson, The Challenge Road: Women and the Eritrean Revolution, London, Earth Scan, 1991, p. 108.
A. Krog, “Locked into Loss and Silence: Testimonies of Gender and Violence at the South African Truth Commission”, in C. O. N. Moser and F. Clark, Victims, Perpetrators or Actors? Gender, Armed Conflict and Political Violence, New York, Zed Books, 2001, p. 212.
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© 2012 Nadine Puechguirbal
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Puechguirbal, N. (2012). Breaking the Silence: New Approaches to the Consequences of Rape in Some African Conflicts, 1994–2008. In: Branche, R., Virgili, F. (eds) Rape in Wartime. Genders and Sexualities in History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137283399_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137283399_11
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-34920-3
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