Restoring social cohesion after widespread rape of women in Democratic Republic of the Congo’s local community through conflict transformation : a case study

Abstract

Armed conflicts have caused extreme human suffering in which rape against women has been a major and gruesome factor. This is true in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Although the issue of sexual violence is documented throughout the country, the South Kivu region remains the most affected. The systematic and widespread sexual violence has wreaked havoc and destroyed social cohesion at the individual, relational and community levels in South Kivu. The damage to social cohesion has been seen in threats to the community dimensions of rape survivors, children born from rape, and perpetrators, all of whom are the main components of the inquiry. This damage has led the community to shape and produce as social outcasts a marginalised group of women, unwanted children born from rape, and outlawed perpetrators. Community cohesiveness has also been threatened and complicated by the frivolous culture based on sexual socialization before rape incidents. Hence, the need to address social cohesion after widespread rape in South Kivu is enormous. The aim of this research was to explore the ways in which social cohesion could be restored by means of conflict transformation in local communities in South-Kivu after widespread rape against women that occurred between 1996 and 2016. Although various responses have focused on women as victims of rape and have ignored both children born of rape and the perpetrators, they are also affected. This weakens the rape survivors’ social reintegration. Therefore, the children and the perpetrators need to be included in the process of recreating social cohesion. Conflict transformation was used to contribute to restoring social cohesion, with positive results for rape survivors. Interventions were done in three main ways: training, family dialogue mixed with community awareness involving community leaders and custom law-keepers, and the creation of literacy centres. The use of participatory action research methodology led to increased knowledge from training, an improvement in relationships, and the boosting of rape survivors’ leadership capabilities and skills. The overall results of the inquiry reveal that mechanisms of social reintegration for rape survivors lies in their acceptance, through which rape survivors’ post-traumatic growth and quality of relationships in the community are enhanced. Thus, community cohesiveness and the rape survivors’ restoration of intra- and inter-personal relationships remains a shared responsibility, with each main group affected resorting to specific mechanisms for healing, be they self-initiated or supported.