Survivors Foundation aims to turn the rising tide of violent deaths.
Washington - US State Department. In Guatemala, on average, two women each day die a violent death. That rate has more than doubled since 2000, and the murder of women often involves rape, torture, mutilation or dismemberment.
Norma Cruz, co-founder and director of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Survivors Foundation, has provided emotional, social and legal support to hundreds of victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse and to the families of murdered women. In 2007 alone, her foundation helped find, prosecute and convict 30 individuals accused of murdering women. The NGO runs a victims' shelter - one of only a handful in the country - and also fights to protect mothers whose babies are stolen as the first link in an illegal and lucrative supply chain for international adoptions.
The increasing number of killings of women in Guatemala, Cruz says, is tied to the poverty that is the aftermath of Guatemala's civil war and to narco-trafficking. Gangsters are known to kill the female family members of rival gangs, often as an initiation rite, with little fear of legal retribution because these crimes are underreported and under investigated. Less than 3 percent are prosecuted.
The more common police response, according to a former member of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, is the assertion that a victim was a prostitute, a gang member, engaged in criminal activities or provoked the killer with infidelity.
Under pressure from groups including the Survivors Foundation, the U.N.-led International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) was approved by the Guatemalan Congress in August 2008. It is too early to gauge the effect of the commission, but it could be an important tool in combating the targeted killing of women.
These advances have been achieved at enormous personal risk to the activists and their families. But, as Cruz told a Human Rights Commission delegate, "We're not going to allow one more woman to die."
Cruz was recently the subject of an urgent Amnesty International appeal after one of her relatives was abducted and assaulted in what appeared to be an attempt to intimidate her and the foundation. Cruz has received many death threats, and her home and office have been watched.
Her commitment to the Survivors Foundation despite these risks has given voice to hundreds of victims, generated reforms and inspired other groups and individuals, inside and outside Guatemala, to turn the tide of violence and impunity in the Central American nation.
Cruz's achievements earned her the U.S. secretary of state's 2009 International Women of Courage Award. The award, founded in 2007 by then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, celebrates exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women's rights and advancement. (See "United States Recognizes Women of Courage.")
Source: www.america.gov
Photo Ignacio de Wit
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Petition Calling for Compensation of Victims of Sexual Violence in Eastern DR Congo
Petition Calling for Compensation of Victims of Sexual Violence in Eastern DR Congo
"We urge the International Community especially the United States, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, German, UN General Secretary, the UN Security Council members,European Union and African Union to pressure the Congolese Authorities to Compensate Victims of Sexual Violence in Eastern DRC"
The Mobilization for Justice and Peace in Congo (MPJC) has announced the launch of a global campaign to collect signatures to urge the international community to put pressure on president Kabila, the Congolese government and the Congole Parliament to take urgent action to compensate victims of sexual violence crimes in East of DR Congo. The petition can be signed at http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/26180.html
According to Makuba Sekombo, Director of Community Affairs of MJPC, "despite legal provisions, the government of DR Congo has not yet created a formal victim support fund to compensate the hundreds of thousands of women and girls victims of extreme sexual violence in Eastern DR Congo. These victims continue to live a tragedy that the United Nations and humanitarian organizations are having difficulties to bear in Eastern DR Congo," he said. "While no amount of money can erase the trauma and inconceivable grief suffered by victims and their families, compensation is crucial in the recovery process and the governement of Congo must assume its responsibility"
The petition urges the international community especially the United States, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, German, UN General Secretary, the UN Security Council members,European Union and African Union) to pressure the Congolese authorities to compensate victims of sexual violence in Eastern DR Congo, where sexual violence against women and children has been widely employed as weapon of war for more than decade.
"For many of victims, it is essential to know that they have a choice to seek justice and reparation," said Mr Sekombo, "The availability of accessible mechanisms which support the right to seek a compensation would symbolise official acknowledgement of the Government and a way of taking responsibility for its tragic failures to protect hundreds of thousands women and children against horrific sexual violence crimes and can be experienced as a commitment by the Congolese Government to improve the criminal justice system response to future sexual violence crimes and strengthen measures to prevent these terrible crimes from being committed in the first place." added Mr. Sekombo.
About MJPC
MJPC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to working to add a voice in the promotion of justice and peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in particular in the East where thousands of innocent civilians, including children and women continue to be victims of massive human rights violations while the armed groups responsible for these crimes remain unpunished.
For more information on MJPC and the activities, visit the web site
http://www.mjpcongo.org. E-mail: info@mjpcongo.org or call Makuba Sekombo at 1 408 806 3644. The online petition calling for for help to put pressure on Congolese authorities to compensate victims of sexual siolence in Eastern DRC can be signed at http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/26180.html or http://www.fivvsc.org
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Makuba Sekombo
(live-PR.com) - Kinshasaa, D.R. Congo, April 25, 2009 -- The Mobilization for Justice and Peace in the D.R. Congo (MJPC) today called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against laurent Nkunda accused of multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity which are well documented by various human right organzations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Laurent
Nkunda, former leader of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) armed group, was arrested on 22 January and is detained at an undisclosed location in Rwanda.
How long would it take for the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo to decide whether or not to issue an arrest warrant against Nkunda? echoed Makuba Sekombo, Director of Community Affairs of MJPC. The ICC Prosecutor has been investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since since 2004, but the ICC reportdely opened an investigation into alleged war crimes committed in the DRC since 1 July 2002.
Nkunda has been repeatedly implicated in numerous serious war crimes and crimes against humanity since 2002. In September 2005, the Congolese government issued an arrest warrant for Nkunda, accusing him of numerous war crimes and crimes against human rights. Human Rights Watch, for example, which has been calling for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity since February 2006 and has documented summary executions, torture and rape committed by soldiers under the command of Nkunda in Bukavu in 2004 and in Kisangani in 2002. Also armed groups loyal to warlord Nkunda have been repeatedly accused of using rape as a weapon of war and the recruitment of child soldiers, some as young as 12 after the abduction from their homes. In November 2008, the UN mission in the country (MONUC), Humn Rights Watch many other organizations accused Nkunda of war crimes in November 2008; an estimated 150 people were killed innoncently in the town of Kiwanja by the troups loyal to Nkunda.
The MJPC deplores the refusal by the Government of Rwanda to hand over Nkunda for trial. "How shocking that Rwanda which has been receiving assistance from the International community to arrest genocide suspects and hand them over to the ICTR or to Rwanda would not allow for the extradition of a war criminal accused of massacring civilians, sexual violence, abduction of civilians, including children forcibly recruited as fighters and then used to attack civilian communities" said Mr. Sekombo.
"While Nkunda is not the only one who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, the ICC arrest warrant would mark a major step in promoting accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in DRC, added Sekombo. As part of its campaign to combat impunity in DRC, MJPC launched an online petition in November 2008 whic can be signed at www.gopetition.com/online/23604.html calling for immediate arrest of Nkunda. So far more than 1365 people from over 50 countries have signed the petition.
Press Contact:
Makuba Sekombo
Kinshasaa, D.R. Congo
1 408 806 3644
info@mjpcongo.org
www.mjpcongo.org
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MJPC Joined HRW in Calling to Hold the Congolese Army Accountable for War Crimes
The Mobilization for Justice and Peace in the DR Congo (MJPC) called for a full inquiry into new allegations of continuing rape and sexual violence committed by the Congolese Army after a recent report by Human Rights Watch revealed shocking new evidence. The report documents how the Congolese Army (FARDC) has been committing serious human rights abuses that amount to war crimes in East Congo and calls on the UN Security Council to demand the Congolese Government to immediatly investigate and hold accountable soldiers responsible for war crimes.
The MJPC is gravely concerned at continuing reports of sexual violence in eastern Congo. Makuba Sekombo, MJPC's Community Affairs Director, stresses "paramount importance of sending a clear message to all armed groups in the region – and to the victims of sexual violence in the DR Congo – that rape and other forms of sexual violence are unacceptable and will not be tolerated regardless of the circumstances". "Congolese army officers are not above international criminal law", and "Congo has clear international law obligations to do something effective to protect girls and women from sexual violence" added Sekombo.
Rather than receiving appropriate medical and psychosocial care, women and child survivors of rape and sexual violence in eastern Congo continue to face rejection and stigma while the perpetrators of the crime go unpunished. The MJPC has launched an online petition calling on the Congolese Government to put urgently in place a comprehensive program of compensation for the victims of sexual violence which will encourage victims of sexual violence in Eastern Congo to report perpetrators to police and to express their needs for access to medical treatment, psychological services and other social resources. The petition can be signed at http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/26180.html . "While no amount of money can reverse or address the impact of sexual violence on victims, the MJPC maintains that in this way, society at large, through the government, can acknowledge the humiliation suffered, shock and pain experienced by victims and provide the resources to help victims rebuild their lives.
About MJPC
MJPC is a non-profit organization working to add a voice in advocating for justice and peace in the DRC particulary in the east of DRC where thousands innocent civilian including children and women continue to suffer massive human rights violations while armed groups responsible for these crimes go unpunished.
Makuba Sekombo
MJPC, Community Affairs Director
1408-8063-644
info@mjpcongo.org
www.mjpcongo.org
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