Crisis in the Congo

Friends, please see this press release I put out today. This crisis is reaching terrible proportions and the widespread use of rape as a weapon of war is just unconscionable. I urge you to act on this important issue by getting the word out in the media and raising awareness to promote action. Below you will also see a statement I made in The House of Commons earlier in the week.

-Keith

MP Martin calls for urgent action to end the crisis in the Congo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 25th 2008

Ottawa – Today marks the International Day for the elimination of violence against women. Although we are approaching the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and recently the United Nations supported the Responsibility to Protect, the persistent, and pernicious evil use of sexual violence against women and sometimes men is as pervasive as ever.

The worst example of this is the widespread use of rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rape is being used not only to destroy the person, but to tear apart the fabric of societies and spread the deadly HIV virus. The consequences include the destruction of people’s lives, the ostracism of the victims from their own communities and society, the increased spread of HIV that can’t be treated in this conflict environment, the collapse of primary health care capacity, and the surge in the number of orphans.

In the DRC, women and sometimes men are raped with bayonets, and pieces of wood, leaving their gastrointestinal and reproductive systems damaged forever. In fact, rape is now being used as a weapon of mass destruction. In the Eastern part of the DRC lies the epicenter of rape, where up to 70% of women in some villages have been the victims of sexual violence.

So far the international community has demonstrated only a tacit interest in this, the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the Second World War. As we mark the International Day for the Elimination of violence against women, the international community must back up its words and intentions with real action to end the Congo’s agony.

Unless these actions are taken now, rape will continue to be a weapon of mass destruction, and women and men will suffer horrific injuries and sometimes death through the use of this most violent of crimes. If we truly believe that we have a responsibility to protect, if we truly believe in saying never again to massive human rights abuses, then we must back up these words with an obligation to act and implement the solutions needed to stop the carnage.

———-

Standing Order 31
November 21, 2008

Hon. Keith Martin (Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the worst mass slaughter of civilians since World War II continues unabated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. One thousand innocent people are dying every single day, adding to the more than seven million who have perished in the last decade. The international community says “never again” to mass murder, yet blithely ignores Congo’s agony.

Despite Canada being the leading driver of the responsibility to protect, our government’s response has been pathetic.

I call on our government to provide resources for the new 3,000-person increase in peacekeeping forces, to facilitate a multilateral response to dismantle the ex-Interahamwe groups and to encourage a Congolese-led grassroots conflict resolution process to resolve longstanding grievances over land and resources.

What we cannot do is continue to stand by in cowardice and ignorance as mass murder continues. We must back up our responsibility to protect with an obligation to act.

Crisis in the Congo

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Foreign Affairs and International Development, In Ottawa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.