“Rape is a weapon of war”, meeting with the activist Justine Masika Bihamba

“The war, which has now lasted for thirty years, has shown the value and place of women in the community.” Justine Masika Bihamba has been supporting women victims of sexual violence in the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo for twenty years. She is an activist for peace and the defense of women’s rights, she tells her story in a book entitled “Women facing war” (Editions de l’Aube) like the association of which she is co-founder, Women’s synergy for victims of sexual violence, supports victims of war rape in the region. Madmoizelle met her for a video interview.

Rape as a weapon of war

To understand the situation in North Kivu, we must go back to the 1990s. In 1994, the Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Rwanda, faced an influx of more than a million Hutu refugees. The latter fled Rwanda, fearing retaliation after the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi populations. The DRC is not prepared. In the city of Goma, in the east of the country, drinking water is a rare commodity, cholera is raging and there is a shortage of housing.

Various armed groups are settling in the territory, murders are increasing and women’s bodies are becoming a strategic instrument of pressure to dominate the region. Rape is used as a weapon of war. “It’s not for sexual pleasure, it’s for destruction” insists Justine Masika Bihamba, who has dedicated her life to supporting the victims of the conflict.

According to some leaders of armed groups with whom the activist had the opportunity to speak, “Woman is sacred. The soldier finds his strength and value through his wife. That’s why women are raped, to destroy men who can no longer fight because their wives have been dishonored.”

However, explains Justine Masika Bihamba, the perpetrators of these atrocities do not belong only to armed groups. They are also found in the ranks of the national army, among the peacekeepers who should protect the region, or even in the trust of homes where intra-family rapes are legion. High-ranking officers very rarely receive heavy sentences.

The synergy of women for victims of sexual violence.

It is in this context that, in 2002, the Women’s synergy for victims of sexual violence. On its website, the organization describes itself as “a complementarity of forces, means and skills of 35 organizations with a female majority that have come together to think about how to help women and girls who suffer abuse, humiliation and are rejected by society”.

Initially, Synergy’s shares encountered some resistance in the region, recalls Justine Masika Bihamba. Above all because of the taboo that still remains today around the topic of sexual violence. The activist recounts in her work the pressures suffered by her teams. Today the association has managed to convince and apply what Justine Masika Bihamba calls positive masculinity. The target? Changing customs and traditions that relegate women, especially rural women, to a subordinate role. “ We work with a group of men for 10 months to see how these men should experience promoting women’s rights » explains the activist. At the end of this period, it is their wives and their neighbors who bear witness to the changes made – or not – by these men.

In addition to these working groups, the synergy carries out various missions with victims: medical assistance, psycho-social support, assistance with socio-economic reintegration, legal and judicial support for victims of sexual violence who have known their attacker.

Women in peace negotiations

While women are on the front lines of conflict, they are rarely consulted in peace negotiations, deplores Justine Masika Bihamba. “They know what they need to ask for peace to last, yet they are always forgotten “. The activist recalls his exceptional participation in the Nairobi III process for the return of peace to the east of the DRC, in November 2022. “We were there for the first time. But have we taken into account what we said? I do not believe “.

In this context, Justine Masika Bihamba’s struggle is closely linked to her vision of feminism: “For me, talking about feminism means talking about the ability women have to change things. It makes no sense to simply ask ourselves to be there. We show what we are capable of doing, what we can change. We will be needed everywhere. And that’s what I call feminism.”

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