July 17th, 2009 | by Coco McCabe
Beds crowd a bare room at a clinic in Congo where rape survivors receive medical and psychological care. Photo by Liz Lucas/Oxfam America
I’ve been thinking about a string of words that appeared in the headline of an Oxfam press release on the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this week: “Rape, forced labor, reprisal attacks, and torture.” They describe the surge in brutality civilians have endured from all sides since the start of the year when the Congolese government began a UN-backed military offensive against a rebel group in the conflict-torn eastern provinces of the country.
I’ve been to Congo. I’ve seen the conditions in those eastern provinces. I’ve heard many painful stories about the hardships and trauma people there live with daily. So why has that headline rattled me? Read the rest of this entry »
October 3rd, 2008 | by Coco McCabe
At Mugunga Camp in Democratic Republic of Congo, there is little for children to do. Photo by Liz Lucas/Oxfam America
What does it mean to be caught in the crossfire of a country’s conflict? Millions of people around the world can answer that question right now. Many of them are in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hunger, homelessness, rape, and murder are part of their daily lives. I was there in March, and I can tell you about some of the things I saw: congo-field-visit1
Sixty years after the main Geneva Conventions enshrined civilians’ rights to protection, those rights are being violated in every current conflict. In a new report, For a Safer Tomorrow, Oxfam is calling for world powers to do a far better job of protecting ordinary people snared by violence.
“Must we be displaced forever?” asked one Congolese villager. “When will it end?”
Listen to Ed Cairns a senior policy advisor for Oxfam Great Britain, discuss with the Voice of America some of the ideas the report offers that could help answer that question.
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