Globe and Mail: Anti-rape funds in Congo wasted: critics

“How much will reach the victim? The victim, at the end, will get nothing. ”— Justine Masika Bihamba

In her long battle against Congo's frightening epidemic of sexual violence, Justine Masika Bihamba has paid a heavy price. Her children have been repeatedly attacked, and one of her daughters was sexually assaulted by a gang of soldiers who broke into her home and tied up the children at gunpoint.

In an average week, at least 150 women and girls are raped in the war-torn hills of eastern Congo – usually by soldiers or rebel militia, and usually with impunity. Hundreds of thousands of women have been raped across the country in the past 12 years of war, often so brutally that they are left with permanent injuries.

Since 2006, Canada has poured $15-million in government money into a massive foreign campaign against the sexual violence in Congo. But Ms. Bihamba, who as leader of a women's group spent lonely years speaking out against the problem, is now one of a growing number of skeptics who question whether this money is achieving its goals.

The anti-rape projects in Congo are sparking a fierce debate among experts. An internal Canadian government report obtained by The Globe and Mail concluded that Canada was spending too much money on T-shirts, vests, caps, cardboard folders and gaudy posters while failing to make progress on the bigger issues of prevention and justice. Ms. Bihamba chuckled grimly as she described the foreign- aid projects. The simple problem with the campaign, she said, is that most perpetrators of sexual violence are illiterate – they can't read the printed messages.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/anti-rape-funds-in-congo-wasted-critics/article1500360/