Denis Mukwege

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Denis Mukwege (2014)

Denis Mukengere Mukwege (born March 1, 1955 in Bukavu , Belgian Congo ) is a Congolese gynecologist , human rights activist, founder and chief surgeon of the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu and a Nobel Peace Prize winner . Mukwege is recognized as the world's leading expert in the treatment of injuries to girls and women caused by gang rape and targeted physical abdominal abuse. Mukwege's work does not focus solely on medical issues. He is also politically committed by documenting the atrocities and repeatedly publicly naming responsible groups of perpetrators. In his speech to the United Nations in 2012, he called on the international community to unanimously condemn sexualised violence at war and bring rapists to justice for crimes against humanity. With his commitment he not only made enemies in his own country, in 2012 he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt .

For his commitment to women and girls who are victims of sexualised war violence, Denis Mukwege has been honored with numerous awards, such as 2008 with the Human Rights Award of the United Nations , in 2013 the Alternative Nobel Prize Right Livelihood Award , 2014 with the Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament . In 2018 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with Nadia Murad .

Life

Denis J. Mukwege was born on March 1, 1955 in Bukavu, the son of a Protestant pastor of the Swedish Pentecostal Mission . He had first contact with the sick when he accompanied his father on his visits.

Mukwege studied medicine in neighboring Burundi and initially worked in a hospital in the small town of Lemera in the rural region of South Kivu . He was shocked by how many women died there every day - for example giving birth to their children. He decided to study gynecology and obstetrics at Angers University in France . Back in the Congo, then still called Zaire , he settled in Lemera in 1989 to open a gynecological ward. In the mid-1990s, Lemera was in the middle of the battlefield of the Congo Wars , and Mukwege was faced with completely new challenges: since the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the various rebel groups and soldiers have been systematically using rape and mutilation of women as a weapon of war. In 1996 Lemera and the gynecological station, which was known across national borders, were completely destroyed. As a survivor of Lemera, Mukwege moved to the provincial capital Bukavu.

With international support, Mukwege started a new project there, the Panzi Hospital. The hospital quickly made a name for itself, especially with its gynecological department. Here Mukwege and his colleagues treated women and girls from all over the province who were at the mercy of the warring parties in the villages. Shortly after the inauguration in 1999, Mukwege noted a high and increasing number of women who had survived sexual violence at war. He set up his ward for the special treatment of these women. Another focus is supporting women suffering from AIDS . At present, around ten women come every day who are so badly injured in the genital area that 30% of them need major medical treatment. He works with international experts from Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa to restore the genital area. The German Institute for Medical Mission (Difäm) also supports Mukwege with money and medicines.

Between 1998 and 2013, Mukwege and his colleagues operated on 40,000 raped women at Panzi Hospital. They observed how the perpetrators became increasingly cruel.

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic , he was part of a working group to fight the disease in Eastern Congo. He left in June 2020 to better devote himself to his COVID-19 patients.

Appeal to the world community

Mukwege can treat the victims with his medical work, but he repeatedly experienced the outbreak of new violence. Mukwege traveled the world and gave countless interviews with the aim of informing the world community about the horrors of the war in the eastern DR Congo : “In truth, this conflict is not about ethnic problems, but a territorial dispute about mineral resources . The Kivu region is rich in coltan , which is used for cell phones and laptops . Without the political will, the situation will never change. These underlying problems cannot be solved through my work. "

Despite numerous threats, he gave a speech to the United Nations on September 25, 2012 about the crimes in the Congo and Rwanda, against sexual violence as a means of warfare. He reported on the serious, ongoing consequences for the victims and denounced the impunity of the perpetrators. He criticized Rwanda for its involvement in the conflict in his home country. The United Nations had accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group financially and logistically. Mukwege stated that the government of the Congo was jointly responsible for the mass rapes and called for the international community to intervene. Mukwege called on the United Nations to unanimously condemn sexual violence and bring rapists to justice for crimes against humanity. "We don't need more evidence, we need action".

On October 25, 2012, just over a month after he returned from New York, unknown people tried to murder him. Heavily armed men entered his house. Mukwege narrowly got away with his life, as one of his long-time employees, Joseph Bizimana, distracted the murderers and was shot himself by them in the process.

On October 26, 2012, Ban Ki-moon, as Secretary General of the United Nations, strongly condemned the attack on Mukwege. For security reasons, Mukwege and his family spent the following months in Belgium. The attack has not yet been resolved.

Despite all the threats, Denis Mukwege returned in January 2013 with great sympathy from the people of Kivu in order to continue his work in the Panzi Hospital under increased surveillance.

In September 2013 Denis Mukwege was honored with the " Alternative Nobel Prize " 2013 (officially: Right Livelihood Awards) for his services to human rights :

"... for his many years of work to heal women who have survived sexual violence at war, and for his courage to name the causes and those responsible."

- Explanation of the jury

When he was awarded the Sakharov Prize , he appealed to the EU to pay more attention to human rights and democracy in economic agreements with his home country, DR Congo . The prize money was subsequently confiscated by the Congolese state because of alleged tax debts. This means that the Panzi hospital operated by Mukwege is penniless.

Denis Mukwege is married to Madeleine Kaboyi Mapendo and has five children.

Awards and honors

Works

literature

  • Colette Braeckman : L'Homme qui répare les femmes. Sexual violences au congo. Le combat du Dr Mukwege. André Versaille éditeur, 2012, ISBN 978-2-87495-194-7 .
  • Birger Thureson: Hope is returning. The doctor Denis Mukwege and his fight against sexual violence in the Congo. (Original title: De glömda kvinnornas röst ) Translation from Swedish by Michael Josupeit, published by the German Institute for Medical Mission e. V., Brandes & Apsel, Frankfurt am Main 2013, ISBN 978-3-95558-001-8 .
  • Denis Mukwege , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 44/2013 from October 29, 2013, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of the article freely available).

Film adaptations

  • L'homme qui répare les femmes. (The man who mends women.) Documentary (1:52), Belgium, 2015. Director: Thierry Michel.
  • Peace fighter - Tübingen doctor supports Nobel Prize winners in the Congo. Documentary (0:45), Germany 2019. Director: Susanne Babila. Camera: Jürgen Killenberger, Felix Hugenschmidt.

Web links

Commons : Denis Mukwege  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jonathan Zilberg: Mass Rape as a Weapon of War in the Eastern DRC . In: Toyin Falola , Hetty ter Haar (ed.): Narrating War and Peace in Africa (Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora . Book 47). University of Rochester Press, 2010, ISBN 978-1-58046-330-0 , pp. 113-141 .
  2. ↑ Difäm: Project partner Dr. Denis Mukwege receives the United Nations Human Rights Prize. Development Policy Online, December 10, 2008, archived from the original on February 21, 2013 ; Retrieved January 1, 2009 .
  3. ↑ Alternative Nobel Prize for Doctor from Congo , Deutsches Ärzteblatt 2013
  4. ^ Mukwege quits DRC virus task force, bemoans testing delays. africanews.com, June 13, 2020, accessed June 13, 2020
  5. ↑ Biography  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), rightlivelihood.org@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.rightlivelihood.org
  6. ↑ Discours aux Nations Unies 25/9/2012 - Dr. Denis Mukwege ( Memento of October 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 119 kB), accessed on September 27, 2012 (French).
  7. ↑ Alternative Nobel Prize 2013, Congolese gynecologist awarded , Biermann Medicine , September 27, 2013, accessed on September 27, 2013
  8. ↑ Denis Mukwege: DR Congo anti-rape doctor attacked. October 26, 2012, accessed November 4, 2012 .
  9. ↑ A doctor in the crosshairs: Assassination attempt in Bukavu on Doctor Denis Mukwege. October 27, 2012, accessed November 4, 2012 .
  10. ↑ UN chief condemns attack on home of renowned doctor in eastern DR Congo , UN October 26, 2012
  11. ^ Doctor Returns to Congo and Is Hailed as a Hero , The New York Times, Jan. 14, 2013
  12. ↑ Press release Right Livelihood Foundation, Stockholm, September 26, 2013, accessed on September 28, 2013 (PDF, 630 kB)
  13. ↑ Panzi Hospital in Congo harassed
  14. ↑ Nigeria: Daily Trust Award Winner Survives Assassination Bid. November 1, 2012, accessed November 4, 2012 .
  15. ↑ Dr Denis Mukwege winner of the van Heuven Goedhart Award. (PDF; 621 kB) July 2010, archived from the original on September 28, 2013 ; Retrieved November 4, 2012 .
  16. ↑ King Baudouin Prize for Development in Africa. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 28, 2013 ; Retrieved November 4, 2012 .
  17. ^ The Clinton Global Citizen Award. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on October 4, 2012 ; Retrieved November 4, 2012 .
  18. ^ Clinton Global Citizen Award to Dr Denis Mukwege. September 27, 2011, accessed November 4, 2012 .
  19. ^ German Media Prize 2011 ( Memento from July 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 26, 2013
  20. ↑ 'Dr. Denis Mukwege recognized for his tireless and courageous work on behalf of women victims of rape in war-torn DRC. ' . Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  21. ↑ 'Denis Mukwege Laureate of the 2013 Prize for conflict prevention' . Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  22. ↑ Fête de l'université 2014 - Doctorats honoris causa . UCL - Université catholique de Louvain. February 3, 2014. Archived from the original on January 30, 2014. Retrieved on February 3, 2014.
  23. ^ Inamori Ethics Prize ( Memento October 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Case Western Reserve University
  24. ↑ Sakharov Prize of the European Union: African gynecologist Mukwege honored , Spiegel Online, October 21, 2014
  25. ↑ MPC 94740 (English)
  26. ↑ Médico distinguido por tratar mulheres violentadas no Congo . Notícias ao Minuto. July 17, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  27. ↑ Haroon Siddique: Nobel peace prize 2018 won by Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad - live updates . In: The Guardian . October 5, 2018, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed October 5, 2018]).
  28. ↑ www.allocine.fr
  29. ↑ see also fr: Thierry Michel # Prix
  30. ↑ [1]
personal data
SURNAME Mukwege, Denis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mukwege, Denis Mukengere (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Congolese (Democratic Republic of the Congo) founder and operator of the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Bukavu (Democratic Republic of the Congo)