7 Feb 2011

DRC / WALLSTROM

UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallström attended the opening of City of Joy on Friday, a revolutionary new community for women survivors of gender violence in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. MONUSCO

Posted at: February 7, 2011 6:44 pm

Duration: 01:01

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: DRC / WALLSTROM 
TRT: 1:01
SOURCE: MONUSCO
RESTRICTIONS: NONW
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 4 FEBRUARY 2011, BUKAVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

SHOTLIST:

1. Med shot, Wallström disembarks plane greets DRC and UN officials
2. Med shot, UN convoy approaching to the Center
3. Med shot, UN guard in front of City of Joy sign
4. Med shot, Wallström with security entering the center
5. Med shot, women holding banner 
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations:
"Women are so strong. Women carry children, they carry water, they carry produce, they carry firewood, they carry responsibilities and now they have to carry the shame of being raped. This has to stop."
7. Cutaway, DRC Ambassador to United States Faida Mitifu seated
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations:
"This is where I want to change things. We have to end impunity; we have to close all exits and all possibilities of career for those who are rapists."  
9. Cutaway, audience

STORYLINE:

United Nations (UN) Special Envoy on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallström opened City of Joy on Friday, a revolutionary new community for women survivors of gender violence in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The new USD1.5m centre funded by UNICEF, will provide up to 180 Congolese women a year with an opportunity to benefit from things like group therapy, self-defence training, comprehensive sexuality education (covering HIV/AIDS, family planning) and economic empowerment.

Created from their vision, Congolese women will run, operate and direct City of Joy themselves.

Speaking at the opening, Wallström said that women carry so many responsibilities like children, water and firewood and that now she said they have to carry the "shame of being raped."

She said this is where she wanted to "change things," this is where "we have to end impunity."
 
The DRC has one of the highest incidences of sexual abuse because of its ongoing conflict. Both government troops and rebels have been accused of mass rape.

In late January, the UN reported 50 to 80 cases of sexual violence perpetrated by the FDLR (Liberation Forces of Rwanda) in Fizi, South Kivu. And last August, rebel forces were accused of raping hundreds of civilians around the town of Luvungi in North Kivu.

The UN estimates some 11,000 rapes in 2010 but the figure is considered to be much higher.