7th June 2011

Five years after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) revised its laws against sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), these crimes continue to go unpunished because of judicial inaction and a legal culture at odds with the changes. The laws, ignored and misinterpreted, have left escalating numbers of sexual violence survivors unprotected, and perpetrators free to violate again.

When the penal code was amended in 2006, it was intended to "prevent and severely reprimand infractions relating to sexual violence and to ensure systematic support for the victims of these crimes", according to the text. To this end, it included previously ignored sexual violations addressed in international humanitarian law, and toughened up sentencing for those who violated the vulnerable, including children, the disabled and subordinates.

These new laws should have protected a 13-year-old girl in Kinshasa from being sexually assaulted by two of her teachers. Indeed, they are both standing trial for the crime. But efforts to bring them to justice were initiated by the girl’s family, not the state that promised to support survivors. Her father had to pay a “fee” of US$60 - his entire monthly salary - to submit a complaint to the judicial police officer.

"The measures taken by the family are already a great exception, and proof of great courage," lawyer Claude Kaniekete Boba told IRIN during the first hearing. Most survivors never see their lawsuits progress to actual trials. This girl’s family had to seek legal aid from an NGO with access to a UN-supported clinic. "Without the legal clinic we would never have had access to a lawyer," her father said.

To read the full story visit Analysis: New laws have little impact on sexual violence in DRC at IRIN.