Text:
http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19990325_feat2.html
Source App: [NGO Decries Violation Of Women's Rights In Eastern DRC - Netscape]
NGO Decries Violation Of Women's Rights In Eastern
DRC
March 25, 1999
KINSHASA, Congo (PANA) - The national committee of CONAFED, the non-governmental
organisation of 'Women and Development', has denounced the multiple cases of
women's rights violations in provinces occupied by rebels in the eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In a document obtained by PANA in Kinshasa Thursday, CONAFED said that women in Kivu, Maniema and Kisangani were being badly treated by the "aggressors" of the DRC. The NGO particularly expressed concern about the numerous cases of rape against young girls and women by "AIDS-infected Tutsi soldiers."
Elsewhere in the country, CONAFED said, women were mistreated by their husbands, workmates (sexual harassment) and harassed by the police. The document highlighted the plight of a married woman who lost all the property she and her late husband owned to the deceased man's family.
CONAFED also denounced the denial of freedom of speech among rural women dwellers, citing the example of a woman who was booed publicly when she wanted to stand for communal elections in one of the provinces.
The document also said that the right of the girl child in the DRC is violated in comparison to her brothers who are accorded much more care by parents at an early age.
In spite of the sombre picture, however, CONAFED encouraged women to strive for their own well-being and "to resist the violations against their rights."
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