08/11/2009

News / No Excuses for Gender-Based Violence, Clinton Tells DRC

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned the “terrible trend” of sexual and gender-based violence used as a tool of war, and said leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other governments in the region, as well as nonstate entities, need to make a “concerted effort” to prevent and discourage sexual violence.

Speaking in an interview with Radio Okapi in Kinshasa August 10, Clinton said the DRC’s human rights record is “in desperate need of improvement.”

The government emerged out of years of destabilizing war, and the secretary acknowledged that often human rights “are considered a luxury during a wartime.” But, she added, “there are no excuses any longer, and there has to be more expected from the government here” in terms of a commitment to promoting human rights and punishing violators, including human rights crimes against women.

“It has to start with making sure that the military of the DRC does not engage in any sexual and gender-based violence, and there has to be no impunity for anyone who does, and there has to be an effort to cut off the funding for the militias and resolve the underlying political tensions in the east,” she said.

Sexual violence in the DRC is not limited to its conflict areas, she added. Like other countries, she said, the DRC has incidents of domestic violence and criminal rape, and stronger laws are needed. “There has to be strong prosecution and law enforcement and judiciary actions to make it clear that this is unacceptable, that there is no excuse for it. And that’s what I hope we will see,” Clinton said.

The secretary said the United States and others, including the United Nations, are ready to provide assistance to the DRC authorities to prevent sexual violence. Along with being the largest supporter of U.N. peacekeeping forces providing stability in eastern Congo, the Obama administration is working with the Congolese military to “train and imbue human rights and respect for the rights of women in the military,” she said. The United States is also providing women who were victimized with healing and health services, she added.

The protection and promotion of human rights, as well as good governance, institution building and a free market are very important development goals for the DRC, even if they do not seem as tangible or visible as the construction of hospitals and roads, Clinton said.

“I’m aware that sometimes people can see the road more than they can see the protection for human rights. But you can have a country with roads that still deprives its people of human rights, that still has no economic development, so that there are no goods and services going down those roads that will actually help the people,” she said.

“I think it has to be a comprehensive effort, and I believe the United States, with our help in education and health, is playing a very important role. And we are here to determine what else we could do,” she said.

Clinton told Kinshasa’s Raga TV August 10 that more countries and international institutions such as the World Bank would be willing to help the DRC, but need to be assured that there is good governance and the rule of law.

“People will not come to help unless they believe that their help will realize the results that we seek,” she said. “They want to make sure that whatever help they give doesn't end up in a very few hands.”

Clinton said the DRC’s corruption and human rights situation is “very serious,” and “the impunity of people who commit either financial corruption or abuses of human rights means that the investors around the world don’t come unless they think that they can get their investment secure.”

She and President Obama are committed to making Africa’s development and democratization a foreign policy priority of the United States, and “we think that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has tremendous potential and promise,” the secretary said.

The government can make decisions over the use of its natural resources that would broadly benefit the country and its development needs. The secretary mentioned the example of Botswana, which ensured that the country retained 20 percent ownership in the De Beers Company, which was mining Botswana diamonds, and kept some of the money in the country to benefit the people.

“As a result, if you go to Botswana, you see good roads, you see clean water, because the people and their leaders said we’re not going to be exploited and we’re not going to let the benefits end up in a very few hands,” she said.

Currently in the DRC, an enormous amount of money is being made from the country’s resources, but because of a lack of accountability, transparency and good governance, the Congolese people are not profiting. The secretary said the government needs to adopt a different development model.

“Every time someone uses a certain type of cell phone, they are using minerals that come right out of eastern Congo. What does that do for the people that I saw on the way from the airport into the city? Nothing,” Clinton said. “It helps them in no way.”

She suggested the government announce it will publicize “every penny that comes from any source,” to show greater transparency and provide a deterrent to corruption.

http://www.america.gov/st/democracyhr-english/2009/August/20090811121211esnamfuak0.7171747.html?CP.rss=true

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