--- title: Rape in Congo | TIME description: Photographer Lynsey Addario documented the use of sexual assault as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo canonical: https://time.com/video/uB3plSDg/ og:title: Rape in Congo og:description: Photographer Lynsey Addario documented the use of sexual assault as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo og:url: https://time.com/video/uB3plSDg/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/uB3plSDg/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rape in Congo twitter:description: Photographer Lynsey Addario documented the use of sexual assault as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/uB3plSDg/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Rape in Congo > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Rape in Congo [Watch (HLS stream): Rape in Congo](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uB3plSDg.m3u8) (4:58)  _Published 2008-11-21. Photographer Lynsey Addario documented the use of sexual assault as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:03 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [A diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo](/video/7fcKihFP/) ### A diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo [Lynsey Addario: "Get Up and Do Something"](/video/BmrZRGRn/) ### Lynsey Addario: "Get Up and Do Something" [Lynsey Addario: It's What I Do](/video/oyVlt27Z/) ### Lynsey Addario: It's What I Do --- ## Transcript -[ Foreign Language ] >> It was a group of men wearing something, hats which covered their faces, they came into the house some went to where my child was sleeping. -[ Foreign Language ] >> Some came near me and took me and raped me. It was two men. >> I've been photographing sexual assaults against women for the last two years. I have made three separate trips to the Democratic Republic of Congo and have traveled pretty extensively through the villages as well as in some of the main towns. There are an estimated 1100 cases of sexual assault across the democratic republic every month. These are estimations. There are so many cases that go unreported due to the lack of infrastructure in the country, there are no roads, many women can't afford to make it to a treatment center or a clinic. And the general stigma attached to a woman who has been sexuality assaulted causes her to not come to a treatment center. She prefers to remain anonymous and to not come in and seek treatment. -[ Foreign Language ] >> I was sleeping when they kicked down the door. We started screaming then the doors were open and they came into the house and they tied our arms behind and started collecting things around the house. In the force when we stumbled, they just pushed us down. When we arrived in the first area, they said this is the beginning of our location and the five soldiers raped me. At the bigger camp, the commander said to me, this is the one I choose as my wife. Most of the rapes are perpetrated by men in uniform. They're perpetrated by the different militias operating throughout Congo whether they are Hutu militias, Tutsi militias, ex- Rwandan soldiers, Congolese soldiers even Congolese government soldiers, so most of the women whom I've spoken to say it was a man in uniform. Although it is not a new tactic, rape is used as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many of these militia groups come in, they rape a woman in front of her entire family. They make villagers watch and the woman is subsequently ostracized. Rape in Congo is often extremely violent. The women are often left with fistule which are major internal tears. This condition requires surgery which is difficult to obtain. Most of the women don't have the means to access the hospitals in Goma or the treatment centers so they stay in their villages and remain untreated. >> If you see me crying, it is because of the pain. I don't know how I caught this disease. >> An estimated 5 million people have died in the conflict of Congo and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped. As the conflict continues these numbers show no signs of abating. 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