 Fight to end rape in war must begin in peacetime: Mukwege Oslo (AFP) Dec 9, 2018 - Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege may have won his Nobel prize for his work to end sexual violence in war, but the crusading surgeon said the groundwork for equality must be laid in peacetime, as he praised movements like #MeToo. Mukwege, whose work has made him a global expert on gang rape in conflict, will on Monday be presented with the Nobel Peace Prize that he shares with Yazidi activist Nadia Murad. The 63-year-old has seen a lifetime's worth of horrors at his Panzi hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo's war-torn east, which he set up in 1999 and has treated the wounds of tens of thousands of women and girls, even babies. "When one does not fight against an evil, it is like a cancer, it spreads and destroys the whole society," he said, noting that few perpetrators are ever brought to justice. While atrocities against women are often committed in conflict, Mukwege said that even countries like Norway -- which often tops equality rankings -- and France still have work to do, because "it is in peacetime that men forge a negative, disrespectful" view of women. "We must change masculinity, moving from toxic masculinity, domineering masculinity to positive masculinity that promises gender equality," he said, calling for schools and families to play a greater role in encouraging respect at a young age. Mukwege said he had been heartened by the #MeToo movement, which has spread across the globe after sparking in the United States over a year ago in response to accusations of sexual abuse and harassment by powerful men in the entertainment industry and other sectors. "If our society wants to change things, there are steps to be taken, changes to be made and I am very happy today to see the silence broken. It is an ultimate step to break the taboo in relation to rape," he said. Fellow laureate Murad has become a tireless campaigner for justice for Yazidis since surviving captivity, gang rape and forced marriage under the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria where it targeted her Kurdish-speaking community. Mukwege said while the Nobel prize itself will not have a "magical effect" on behaviour, he still hoped it could help improve the lives of women, not just in DR Congo, but also those in other conflicts like Syria, or threatened by Boko Haram. "The world must do more," he said. - 'Tip of the iceberg' - The Nobel laureate lives under armed guard at his hospital after an attack in 2012. He does not like to talk of his work in terms of statistics, because "each woman raped is one woman too many" and he fears people have become desensitised to the swelling toll. But he said more than 50,000 women and girls had been treated at the hospital for injuries from sexual violence, though he stresses this is "just the tip of the iceberg", accounting only for those able to get to his hospital. Many are not able to make the journey. Mukwege has emerged as an excoriating critic of President Joseph Kabila, set to be replaced in December 23 elections in a nation that has not had a peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. But he said he was not tempted by politics at the moment. His focus will stay on his work at the hospital, he said, despite the publicity of the Nobel award. "The Nobel Prize found me in the operating room. I will try to stay there as much as possible," he said.
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Lucie was just seven years old when the men took her. She was found the next day, naked and bleeding, on the edge of the vast forested hills of Kahuzi Biega Park, in violence-plagued eastern DR Congo.
"The militants entered the family home during the night," said her mother Adeline, recalling the day that her family was touched by the terror that gripped their small village as militiamen abducted and raped dozens of girls, some barely more than babies.
Lucie's injuries were so serious she was taken to Denis Mukwege.
Known as "Doctor Miracle", 2018 Nobel Peace laureate Mukwege has treated thousands of women and girls brutalised in the country's lacerating conflicts.
"She had several operations for two months," Adeline told AFP, in a secluded hut where she spoke alongside other mothers of victims of the three years of violence against girls in their village of Kavumu.
A total of 42 girls, aged between 18 months and 12 years, were abducted by the Djeshi ya Yesu militia, or "Army of Jesus", between 2013 and 2016 in Kavumu, in the province of South Kivu.
Many were taken to Mukwege.
At his Panzi hospital in Bukavu, the provincial capital of South Kivu, the doctor performs reconstructive surgery on women and girls who have suffered serious internal injuries.
"It was very hard, for me and all the staff. I have never before seen people weeping while they were tending" to patients, he told AFP in a weekend interview ahead of accepting the Nobel award on Monday.
"I believe that in my life I have never been as disturbed, shocked, I don't have the words. When you see an innocent little baby, but bloody, with their genitals shredded, you ask yourself questions about humanity.
"How could we get to this point? What happens to humans who have no rules? It has no limit."
- Justice fight -
Once Mukwege has staunched bleeding and rebuilt battered bodies, his focus turns to justice.
Panzi's Legal Clinic, which provides forensic evidence and legal representation, took part in the trial against a provincial lawmaker and 10 militiamen who were convicted last year over the Kavumu abductions and rapes and sentenced to life in prison.
The UN's peacekeeping mission in the country hailed the landmark case as a "major advance in the fight against impunity for sexual violence".
The trial also provided $5,000 (4,390 euros) in compensation for each of the victims -- although the families say they still have not received anything.
Around 40 cases are ongoing -- either as complaints filed or trials.
Efforts to bring an end to impunity for sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo began to gather pace in 2011, when nine soldiers were convicted by a military court for ordering and carrying out mass rapes.
About 60 women were raped in one night that year in the town of Fizi, some 250 kilometres south of Bukavu.
Lieutenant Colonel Kibibi Mutware, two majors and a second lieutenant were sentenced to 20 years in jail for "crimes against humanity by way of rape and other inhuman and terrorist acts".
Armed groups vying for control of the region's vast mineral wealth often use mass rape to terrorise the local population.
Violence is again on the rise with the proliferation of armed groups since 2016 as the country's political situation became increasingly unstable.
Mukwege said up to seven percent of rape victims at his hospital are now infants -- up from around three percent.
"It is enormous that it is the children who are targeted by such acts. But this as well is the consequence of impunity," he said.
- Fears for 'little sisters' -
Tatiana Mukanire, of the national movement of survivors of sexual violence, said she had not seen much progress "because there are thousands of women who have been victims of sexual violence".
The issue is a personal one for the 34-year-old, who was treated by Mukwege after she was raped in 2004.
Her torturer has never been convicted. "That hurts," she said.
She worries for the future of the "little sisters" of Kavumu.
Some will never be able to have children. One brutalised five-year-old "screams when she pisses".
And they may face stigma later in life, with potential in-laws often against sons marrying a woman who has been raped.
Lucie, whose name AFP has changed to protect her identity, is now 12 and at school.
Her mother said European doctors had confirmed Lucie's surgery had been done well.
Adeline, 37, who has eight children, added with relief that she had been told "my little girl could be a mother in the future. We were afraid."
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