The statistics are alarming: during the four-year period ending in
December 2013, there were more than 3,600 victims of sexual violence.
Most were women, but there were also nearly 1,000 children and 81 men.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told a press
conference Wednesday that the victims ranged in age from 2 to 80.

“Based on the information gathered, it appears that armed groups and
state agents were each allegedly responsible for about half of all the
cases of sexual violence that we recorded," said Pillay.

The report found that sexual violence was often committed during armed
attacks aimed at gaining control over territories rich in natural
resources.  Villages were a primary target and victims were violated in
their homes, the fields where they worked, while going to the market or
collecting water.

The U.N. Joint Human Rights Office, which conducted the study, said the
incidence of sexual violence is higher in the conflict provinces of
North and South Kivu and Orientale.  Nearly half of all victims were
from North Kivu.

The study found many obstacles to justice for victims, including a weak
national judicial system which lacks the means to conduct
investigations, interview and protect victims and witnesses, as well as
the low rate of arrests and convictions.  Navi Pillay said improved
political will at the highest levels has not sufficiently reduced sexual
attacks, and she urged Kinshasa to step up its efforts.

 “I call on the government to prioritize the fight against impunity for
crimes of sexual violence, to promptly complete effective and
independent investigations, and to prosecute alleged perpetrators,
including those suspected of having command responsibility," she said.

Since 2011, military courts have convicted 187 individuals of sexual
crimes, but most were low-ranking soldiers, and very few were senior
officers or members of armed groups.