In the shadow of evil - The war against women in the Congo

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Movie
Original title In the shadow of evil - The war against women in the Congo
Country of production Canada , USA , Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2007
length 58 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Susanne Babila
script Susanne Babila
production Jürgen Killenberger
camera Jürgen Killenberger
cut Karin Brost

In the Shadow of Evil - The War Against Women in the Congo is a documentary produced on behalf of SWR in collaboration with Arte , which addresses the human rights violations against women in the Congo . The film premiered on November 15, 2007 on Arte and won the German Human Rights Film Award in 2008 .

content

Ndamosu M'Buefuh is 70 years old. She was raped several times and her husband and five children were killed. Thirty-year-old Ntakobajira M'Bisimwa was held as a sex slave in a rebel camp. Eighteen-year-old Noella M'Mburugu had to endure this ordeal for three years. She gave birth to a son there. She called him "Amani", which means "peace". Her tormentors snatched the child away from her and chased her away because she became ill and could no longer work.

Panzi Hospital is located in Bukavu , the capital of Sud-Kivu Province . Seriously injured and traumatized women and girls are treated there. They have been victims of cruel rapes. Because war is still raging in northeastern Congo. Militias are marauding through the inaccessible forests. They kill, plunder, pillage. Women and children are systematically raped and ill-treated.

The rapes often take place in public, in front of the entire village community, their own children, husbands, grandfathers. They also use glowing objects, fears, sharp tools, bayonets or gun barrels. The abdomen of women is then completely destroyed. Women and girls of all ages, even babies, are victims of unimaginably cruel sexual violence . Ten-year-old Elisa has been incontinent since then, she can neither hold water nor feces and has to wear sanitary towels at all times. They all suffer from extreme anxiety and fear that they will have to return to their home villages when the medical treatment at Panzi Hospital has been completed.

The perpetrators in Sud-Kivu are mainly Hutu militias, who sought refuge in neighboring Congo in 1994 after the genocide in Rwanda . They finance their weapons by exploiting raw materials. Because the province is rich in gold, in the tin ore kasserite and in coltan , which is used for the production of laptops and cell phones. The goal of the criminals: terror, the exercise of power through humiliation, humiliation and destruction.

The documentary In the Shadow of Evil shows how the systematic rape of women in the Congo is used as a weapon of war.

Reviews

“With the help of women who found refuge and care in the Panzi hospital in the Congolese province of South Kivu, the shocking film recalls the effects of the ongoing civil war on women and girls. He makes it clear that terror, humiliation and humiliation are the order of the day and that rape is not just a crime, but is systematically used by the Hutu militias as a weapon of war. "

- Lexicon of international film

background

Susanne Babila, cameraman Jürgen Killenberger and sound engineer Felix Hugenschmidt accompanied some women for four weeks and witnessed unimaginable crimes against humanity .

After ten years of war, the people in the Congo only know chaos and violence. There have been over four million deaths so far - most of them died while fleeing from hunger and disease. Officially there has been peace since 2003, but the country is not calm. Rival militias pillage , rape, kill. In the province of Sud-Kivu, it was mainly Hutu rebels who sought refuge in South Kivu after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. They have taken up residence in the inaccessible forests, together with Congolese bandits. It should be up to ten thousand. They maraud through the villages, rape, pillage, kill. Anyone who does not collaborate with the militias or even betray them will be mercilessly punished.

Around 18,000 UN peacekeepers are stationed in the north-east of the country as part of the Mission de l'Organisation des Nations Unies en République Démocratique du Congo (MONUSCO), but they can do little. Because the province is as big as Ireland and there are no roads, just muddy tracks or trails. The UN soldiers cannot reach many villages and do not know their way around. You are in the jungle, it is mountainous. There are currently no cell phone masts, no telephones, no infrastructure - so there is also no precise early warning system for new attacks, an ideal area for bandits. Rape is used as a weapon in war. Above all, women and children are systematically raped and ill-treated. Women of all ages, 80-year-old grandmothers or 5-year-old girls, even babies, are victims of unimaginably cruel sexual violence.

The perpetrators believe that by raping virgins they gain supernatural powers or be protected from AIDS . Many women are killed or die as a result of the rapes. Or they take their own lives. The survivors are severely traumatized. In most cases, the victims cannot return to the villages.

Rape, especially by a soldier, is considered the greatest disgrace for the family in the Congo and is a taboo subject. Because the woman is a symbol of honor and morality. If she is raped, family honor is stained. Some men cast off their raped wives, other brothers, fathers, husbands wander around confused in the woods because they are traumatized themselves. There is almost no medical, psychological or material help for the severely traumatized victims; not to mention the children who frequently witnessed the atrocities. As a result, the trauma persists across generations.

Many women take their own lives because they cannot cope with the memories or because they have AIDS. Young women in particular end up in prostitution, while others become addicted to alcohol. Without help, their situation is hopeless. It is true that women can go to the International Criminal Court , but who supports them in a country like the Congo, which is trying to form a government after the elections but is still far from having a rudimentary judicial system and prosecution feature. Many women do not dare to speak about the atrocities, feel ashamed and fear revenge.

The systematic rape and mistreatment of women in the Congo is a weapon of war that is deliberately used. Women are the engine of society, especially in Africa; they till the fields, feed the family and raise the children.

With the destruction of women, the engine, the heart of the country, is destroyed.

Awards

In the shadow of evil - the war against women in the Congo was awarded the German Human Rights Film Prize on December 6, 2008 in Nuremberg . The film also won the 5th Marl Television Prize for Human Rights in the "Documentation Abroad" category.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the Shadow of Evil - The War Against Women in the Congo. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 3, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used