Armed groups take sex slaves

ARMED groups in eastern Congo are kidnapping children as young as 14 and forcing them into sex slavery for soldiers living in the bush.

Often the young girls are abandoned in the middle of forests after being used for their bodies but sometimes they are shot, according to charity, Save the Children.

Rescued teenage girls as well as male child soldiers are now being diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases, including syphilis, gonorrhea as well as HIV.

The use of teenagers as sex slaves is being perpetrated by several militia, explained the charity’s east Congo chief field officer Angelica Nyirasafari.

“Military forces want women near them so they force young girls to become a sexual slave. But it’s not for a long time and then they get rid of them. The majority of sex slaves are aged between 14 and 17,” she said. “Most of the time they are released but they can get shot during fighting. They are usually protected by the men though, as they are needed.”

The most common groups abducting girls as sex slaves include Mai Mai, local village defence militia units, PARECO, as well as Hutu rebels, the FDLR.

“We are finding diseases associated with sex present among the children. This includes HIV, which has been found among both boys and girls,” added Ms Nyirasafari.

Save the Children say their officials have no information that the rebels or government forces are forcing teenagers into sexual slavery. However, Ms Nyirasafari adds: “It’s difficult to know if they are partners by choice with the soldiers or actually slaves.”

According to Amnesty International, the use of rape including the taking of sex slaves sometimes is ethnically motivated and aimed at terrorising or demoralising communities, especially by armed groups wanting to keep control in a village.

Amnesty say also that many victims of sexual abuse are subsequently abandoned by family members, leaving them to face extreme poverty alone, sometimes while pregnant.

Informal measures are sometimes used on sexual abusers when they are caught including whippings or compensation in money or livestock to the victim.

But few perpetrators are brought before the courts.

Meanwhile, the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres whose staff continue to operate in dangerous parts of the Congo, will next week launch a campaign where victims will speak out.

This project was funded by the Simon Cumbers' Media Challenge Fund, supported by Irish Aid.