Showing posts with label Congo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Congo. Show all posts

Thursday, March 28, 2013

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Telegraph

It's time to take Angelina Jolie seriously

Angelina Jolie's latest humanitarian mission has been a trip with British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, to the Congo to try and end rape in warzones. However, many still find it hard to take her seriously. But why, asks Katy Brand, in this week's Paper Tiger column.

8:00AM GMT 29 Mar 2013

Angelina Jolie seems to be very confusing to some people. On the one hand she is the quintessential Tinsel Town creation - mother to a Mia Farrow style adopted ‘rainbow family’, partner to Brad Pitt, daughter to bona fide movie star Jon Voight. She has two showbiz marriages behind her, and apparently another to look forward to, if indeed it hasn’t happened already. She has played the media like a Stradivarius her entire working life, indulging in extraordinary behaviours such as wearing a vial of her former spouse’s blood around her neck, offering up the most photogenic heroin addiction it is reasonable to expect, entwining herself in a somewhat provocative manner around her own brother, and talking at length about her bi-sexuality. Oh yes, and she’s an Oscar-winning actress.
 
Angelina, the Hollywood actress, with lover Brad Pitt

But these days, she has all but entirely reinvented herself as a global humanitarian campaigner, visiting some of the world’s most hostile and crisis-hit environments to raise awareness, whilst also giving significant amounts of her own money to charity. She has even bought a vast swathe of the Cambodian rainforest in order to protect it from unscrupulous developers. Of course, this is not an option available to most of us, but I’m not sure why that means it should be met with cynicism – just because the charitable giving you or I might make is more modest, it doesn’t negate the fact that others use their considerable resources for good.
Nobody is so rude about Bill and Melinda Gates attempting to eradicate malaria from West Africa (a task they seem to be succeeding at), but perhaps this is because they are not quite so physically blessed as Jolie. We are still suspicious of beauty, associating pulchritude with manipulation and deceit in a most Shakespearean manner.
For many still find it hard to take her seriously in her most laudable endeavours, with raised eyebrows and curled lips accompanying every foreign aid trip she makes. Why is this? Because she’s beautiful? Because her life is so privileged we can see nothing but insincerity in her altruism? Because Sting has basically ruined it for all celebrities by preaching his message of environmentalism between flights in private jets to his many luxury homes? This doesn’t seem fair.
Jolie’s latest mission to the Congo with William Hague (literally the only member of the current Tory administration who could carry this off without looking like a smug bastard) is perhaps her boldest yet. Listening to young boys and girls talk openly about the brutality practised against them, she has caused the spotlight to fall once again on the problem of sexual violence, a problem with does not even seem to be diminishing in some areas, let alone stopping.

 
William Hague and Angelina visit the Congo

Rape and sexual assault is part of every day life for these people, and it doesn’t end there. Dealing with the issue of female genital mutilation is not easy, and the latest statistics in this country, let alone anywhere else, make any normal person feel sick to the stomach. Jolie has pointed out with an incredibly personal perspective how her own adopted daughter Zahara would probably have been a victim if she had grown up in her birth country of Ethiopia.

The Telegraph’s Cathy Newman has been with Jolie and Hague, and has reported back in some detail about the atrocities they have had described to them, which I would encourage anyone to read. One harrowing story in particular details a five-year old girl’s rape ordeal at the hands of a government soldier right next to a police station. It doesn’t get much worse than that, and although change will not be fast, at least it is in the news – the stories are being heard - and that is down to Jolie’s presence.

People with a startling lack of intelligence and understanding of the real world like to offer poorly-thought through observations of celebrity campaigning, usually running along the lines of ‘why should we bother about this so-called famous person (I’ve never even HEARD of her), when there are so many people working all year round without any press coverage at all’.



Well, the point of a celebrity visit is to get people talking about an issue, to highlight the very thing the workers on the ground campaign for – if each unknown volunteer was put on the front cover of a national newspaper every day, the newspaper would not sell any copies, that’s the bottom line and if we don’t like it, we only have ourselves to blame.

We buy more papers when there are celebrities in them – the rich and famous are under no illusions about this, and although there are some who make the cause they promote seem a little ridiculous by a random, short-lived association, Jolie has been campaigning on a small number of issues for over a decade now – no-one should doubt her commitment.

A high profile is a privilege and a responsibility, however one may come to have it – it can do some good, it should do some good, as Samantha Cameron seems finally to be grasping. Whenever Angelina Jolie makes a visit, there will of course be a load of coverage about what she is wearing and the precise provenance of her engagement ring, but in amongst all that, we will also take a moment to look directly into the faces of those who are trying to live their lives in the worst possible circumstances, and that is all that matters.


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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

LAX


EOnline

Welcome back, Angelina Jolie.
Brad Pitt's other half—in a signature head-to-toe black ensemble—touched down at Los Angeles International Airport today after her umpteenth humanitarian trip to Africa.
Along with the blouse, blazer, maxi skirt and leather boots, we could just spot the simple gold ring she's been wearing on that finger


Just Jared

Angelina Jolie is a beauty in black while making her way through the terminal after landing at LAX Airport on Wednesday (March 27) in Los Angeles.













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Guardian

Angelina Jolie and William Hague form unlikely double act to tackle rape in war

Film star and foreign secretary have spent four days visiting refugee camps – and already finish each other's sentences

in Kinshasa The Guardian,

Several Hollywood actors through the years have tried to use their fame to change the world, or at least a government policy or two. And there has been no shortage of politicians who have sought to harness the megawattage of celebrity to push their policies. Few have pulled off this alchemy quite as effectively as Angelina Jolie and William Hague in their joint campaign for international action against mass rape in conflicts.
They have been collaborating since last May on a multipronged initiative, with projects ranging from shaming public officials into action to funding women's clinics and dispatching forensic experts to the Syrian borders, Libya, Mali and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

For the past four days the film star and foreign secretary have visited waterlogged refugee camps near the frontlines around Goma, eastern DRC, meeting rape survivors, women's groups and doctors to publicise the effort before putting it on the G8 agenda this year.

Jolie said she had not wanted to have anything to do with governments when she started to publicise the issue. Since then, she says, she has realised their money and power have their uses. Asked what she wanted to get out of the partnership with Her Majesty's Government, she replied straight away: "An end to impunity."
"There were hundreds of thousands of women raped during the Rwandan genocide. There are hundreds of thousands of people being raped in the Congo. Tens of thousands of women raped in Bosnia. God knows how many people raped in Syria," Jolie said in an interview with the Guardian on Hague's RAF plane, after thunderstorms had stopped a helicopter trip to a women's hospital, and officials plotted alternative itineraries.
"I would like them to know they are not alone and that violence against them is something the world will no longer stand for and it's not something they are expected to simply tolerate. I think they have been expected to do so and I think people have come to see rape in war as something that just happens, that is a part of war. We will no longer simply stand idly by."

The British foreign secretary flatly admits that it was Jolie's film, Land of Blood and Honey, that inspired his commitment to the cause. The film, Jolie's directing debut, is the very opposite of a Hollywood blockbuster. It is a gruelling depiction of the rape camps in Bosnia where up to 50,000 women were sexually abused. The cast is entirely Balkan, as is the dialogue, with subtitles. It was rapturously received in Sarajevo but barely seen anywhere else.

The aim, Jolie says, was to give the victims a voice and to move policy-makers, an oft-stated goal of political films. But on this occasion it does appear to have worked.

"It was when I saw Angelina's film that I decided we should launch a global initiative on this," Hague said. "When you get into the detail of it, it's too terrible not to do something about. What is the point of politics if you don't address such issues and, if your position in the world enables you to see and understand the sheer extent of the horror, then you have a responsibility to do something about it."

It is the ultimate odd couple pairing, of course, of the sort that films are made about: the resolutely unflashy northern Tory and a world-famous Tinseltown progressive. But, on this issue, their views are so closely aligned that after a few days' joint campaigning together they are finishing each other's sentences.
Jolie strongly backs Hague's decision to set up a team of about 70 British experts to deploy to conflict zones, including health experts, counsellors and police officers who can train local people to collect and store evidence of rape, the lack of which has help stymie war crimes prosecutions for sexual violence. The UK government is also funding locked evidence cabinets to keep the DNA evidence secure and cool.
"Evidence-collecting on the border is so crucial," Jolie said. "There is a backlog of cases, so to try to collect evidence and speak to the people during the situation [is vital], to give them assistance immediately after crisis, if you can't reach them during … to start to hear their voices and support them."

She points out that although there were up to 50,000 cases of rape in the Bosnian conflict, there have been only about 30 war crimes convictions for sexual crimes.

"The hope and dream is that the next time this happens, that somehow, during a crisis, during a war, it's known that if you abuse the women, if you rape the women, you will be held accountable for your actions. This will be a crime of war and … it won't be considered that you were simply swept up in mass hysteria and aggression," Jolie said. "And hopefully it will be prevented and the numbers will drop, and we won't have to do so much work in the future. It's a long, long road, but that is the goal."
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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CSMonitor

Angelina Jolie's gold ring pulls focus from Congolese rape survivors

Angelina Jolie is wearing a simple gold ring instead of her diamond engagement ring as she meets with women and girls in eastern Congo to highlight war-zone rape.

By Associated Press / March 26, 2013 

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague visits Lac Vert camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo with actress and UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie during their trip to Africa to to raise awareness of war-zone rape, March 26.
Iggy Roberts / Ministry of Defence / AP

GOMA, Congo
Angelina Jolie is meeting with women and girls in eastern Congo, where sexual violence is rampant, but the coverage is focusing on the gold ring she's wearing in place of her usual massive engagement ring.

Jolie, a special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency, traveled to the Nzulo camp near Goma on Monday along with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

RECOMMENDED: Top four ways Congo's instability affects the world
 
The International Rescue Committee says it has provided care to more than 2,500 women and girls who have been raped or abused over the last year alone. The IRC is handing out kits with flashlights and whistles, as well as cleaning products so that women can avoid bathing at creeks where the risk of assault is higher.
Sexual violence is frequently used as a weapon of war by rebel groups that operate in eastern Congo, as well as by Congolese soldiers.




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Angelina has worn a simple band many times before but always on her middle finger, not her ring finger.  She has also made several humanitarian trips since their engagement was announced and in every instance, she removed her engagement ring and did not wear any other ring on her ring finger. The type of ring, the fact that it's on her ring finger, and Brad's strong hints that their wedding was imminent lead me to believe that it is in fact a wedding ring and that they were married recently.  Maybe within the last two weeks.

While it's true that speculation on the ring may draw attention away from the issue of rape, it's also true that the increased interest will lead to wider coverage.  And the purpose of their trip after all is to raise awareness.  People will at least hear about Congo and war rape even if its not the focus of their attention. 

-- Fussy
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USWeekly

Angelina Jolie Wears Gold Band on Ring Finger, Visits Africa on Mission to Fight Rape: Picture

Celebrity News March 26, 2013 AT 5:30PM By Allison Takeda


Did Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie manage to pull off the impossible -- a secret wedding in Hollywood? During a trip to a rescue camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo this week, Pitt's 37-year-old fiancee was spotted with some mysterious new bling on her ring finger: a simple gold band where her giant platinum engagement sparkler used to be.
PHOTOS: Brad and Angelina's PDA
The Maleficent actress and special envoy of the United Nations' refugee agency is currently in Africa with British Foreign Secretary William Hague to raise awareness of warzone rape in the Congo and Rwanda. On Monday, March 25, she visited a rescue camp to meet with survivors of sexual violence.
Jolie, who has six kids with longtime love Pitt, pledged last year to devote more time to her humanitarian work. "I wake up in the morning as a mom, and I turn on the news like everybody else, and I see what's happening," she said. "I want to be part of the world in a positive way."
PHOTOS: Angelina goes global
The star noted that her family played a large part in her desire to help others. She and Pitt adopted three of their children from other countries and have made a concerted effort to stay connected to those cultures.
And to each other, of course. Last spring, after seven years together, the World War Z actor popped the question with a ring he designed himself -- an emerald-cut diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds, estimated to be around 16 carats total and worth approximately $500,000.
PHOTOS: How Brad and Angie fell in love
The A-list couple had said previously that they wouldn't wed until the ban on gay marriage was reversed, but in January 2012, Pitt hinted that they had changed their minds. "We'd actually like to," he told The Hollywood Reporter of tying the knot, "and it seems to mean more and more to our kids."
"We made this declaration some time ago that we weren't going to do it till everyone can. But I don't think we'll be able to hold out," he continued. "It means so much to my kids, and they ask a lot. And it means something to me, too, to make that kind of commitment."

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Congo videos




25 March 2013 Congo , World

The challenge of ending warzone rape


Foreign Secretary William Hague and film star turned UN envoy Angelina Jolie have jointly launched a campaign to end warzone rape but, as Cathy Newman writes, there are many obstacles in the way.

On the bumpy, dirt track which passes for a main road out of Goma, the crowds of Congolese don't even look up when the UN armoured convoy rumbles by.
They're so used to seeing it that it's no longer noteworthy.
The UN and an assortment of charities have been in the Congo for years to try and protect a people whose lives have been torn apart by decades of fighting.
Since 1998, the war has claimed 5.4m lives, and official estimates suggest 200,000 women have been raped during the conflict.
And even though there's a peace agreement of sorts, the violence and rape go on.
I'm travelling with the foreign secretary and the Hollywood film star turned UN envoy Angelina Jolie - who have jointly launched a campaign to end warzone rape - an atrocity which, William Hague says, shames the world.
Despite the incredible mineral wealth of the Congo - gold, diamonds and coltan, which is sought-after to make mobile phones - in the east of the country particularly its people live in daily danger and grinding poverty.
By the side of the road we're jolting along, women are selling anything they can - fruit and nuts balanced in giant baskets on their heads, vegetables, mobile phone covers, baseball caps. Men push home-made bikes hewn from tree trunks and laden with produce, and tiny children carry even tinier babies.
Without saying a word, a boy in a thread-bare red cross t-shirt emblazoned with a red cross seems to say it all. Their trust in the protection of charities and the international community has worn thin over the years.

The challenges ahead

We're on our way to a camp for displaced people near Goma. It's supposed to afford some protection and the families living here are grateful that it does. But they also say they're at risk of being raped if they leave the camp to find food or firewood for cooking.
The International Rescue Committee which runs the Nzolo camp is trying to stop women endangering themselves by giving them stoves so they don't have to collect wood.
But despite its best efforts conditions for the ten thousand people who call this place home are pretty hellish.
The makeshift shelters are no protection against the rain, and it's a breeding ground for insect-borne diseases.
One of the women told me a baby recently died because there are no ambulances to take people who fall sick to hospital.
In a camp just up the road another woman said she'd been raped in the camp itself. That was the second time she'd been attacked.
She was prepared to stand up in court to see her attackers punished. But she doubted she could recognise them well enough to identify them.
And that's the kind of challenge Mr Hague's initiative faces. For women facing a daily struggle for food and survival, bringing rapists to justice is without doubt a laudable aim, but in a country broken by decades of war, there are many obstacles in the way.
















Angelina Jolie visits DRC to raise awareness of rape in warzones

Angelina Jolie joins British Foreign Secretary William Hague talk to women in DRC about rape being used as weapon of war. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

Reuters video




Video
Jolie and Hague visit Africa for anti-rape campaign from ITV News on Vimeo.







Mikey Hoare 2m
Good photo of Foreign Secretary and Angelina Jolie at Nzolo IDP camp in eastern DRC




BBC

25 March 2013 Last updated at 22:25 GMT 

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie and Foreign Secretary William Hague have teamed up in the Democratic Republic of Congo to highlight concerns over sexual violence.
The pair visited a rescue camp for women north west of Goma to raise awareness of warzone rape.
The foreign secretary said: "Sexual violence in conflict has to be resolved if conflicts are going to be resolved."
Jolie, a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner, said the issue needed a "worldwide focus".
James Robbins reports.

 BBC video at site



IntheNews


Telegraph

Angelina Jolie and William Hague visit Congo on anti-rape mission

The Hollywood actress and British Foreign Secretary visit a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Comgo as part of campaign to stop rape being used as a tool of war. 

10:26PM GMT 25 Mar 2013
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, a special envoy for the UN refugee agency, travelled to the Nzulo camp near Goma on Monday along with Foreign Secretary William Hague.
The visit to the Nzolo IDP camp north of Goma, was intended to highlight the use of rape in conflict zones, and to raise awareness of the issue on an international level.
"What we're here to do is try to scale it up and make this a world wide focus and it's due time, it's been going on every war, every crisis and it's often an afterthought and it's due time to end this and put an end to impunity and they deserve it," Jolie said.
Mr Hague said that he planned to raise the problem at the annual G8 meeting of foreign ministers in London in April.
"Sexual violence in conflict has to be resolved if conflicts are to be resolved because when rape is used as a weapon of war, it makes communities harder, to bring together and much harder for people to get on with their lives afterwards," he said.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) says it's provided care to more than 2,500 women and girls who have been raped or abused over the last year alone.
The IRC is handing out kits with flashlights and whistles, as well as cleaning products so that women can avoid bathing at creeks where the risk of assault is higher.
Sexual violence is frequently used as a weapon of war by rebel groups that operate in eastern Congo, as well as by Congolese soldiers.
A somewhat unlikely duo, the Foreign Secretary and the actress launched the campaign in May 2012 to prevent sexual violence in conflict zones.

Telegraph video at site




ITN











Reuters





IRC

William Hague and Angelina Jolie meet uprooted women in Eastern Congo kept safe by International Rescue Committee

NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, Democratic Republic of Congo – The British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, and actress and UNHCR Special Envoy, Angelina Jolie, visited a displacement camp in Eastern DRC today (Monday 25 March) to see how the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is preventing violence against women and girls vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse.
Mr Hague and Ms Jolie met with IRC staff and displaced women at Nzulo camp near Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu. The camp supports over 10,000 of the estimated 218,000 people currently displaced in the area over the past year.
The spontaneous displacement sites and camps around Goma are often not a safe refuge for women and girls, especially as they collect firewood or water, try to find assistance to support themselves and their families, or walk around at night time.
To help prevent violence to women and girls the IRC has distributed 12,000 ‘dignity kits’ in six camps and displacement sites near Goma in recent months. The kits include clothing, several sets of underwear, strips of reusable cloth for sanitary towels, bars of soap and two buckets; one for washing clothes and the other for washing themselves.
These simple items allow women to wash in private rather than risk physical or sexual violence while at communal and unprotected creeks. To reduce the risk at night-time, the kits also include torches and whistles. To reduce the amount of time women and girls spend collecting firewood, the IRC will begin distributing 2,500 fuel efficient stoves in April.
Violence against women and girls is an ever present threat in the DRC but the armed conflict and displacement over the past year have further exacerbated the problem. Over the past 12 months the IRC has provided life-saving care to more than 2,500 women and girls who have been raped or abused.
The IRC has seen a marked increase in violence against women and girls in North and South Kivu, peaking in September, when the number of cases reported was 190 per cent higher than the 2011 monthly average. (1)
Women reported to the IRC rape, physical assault, forced marriage and other forms of abuse. The teams discovered that while there was an increase in cases perpetrated by a stranger, in 45 per cent of the cases the perpetrator was someone known to the woman, typically a family member, partner or someone from the local community.
Protecting women and girls from violence is a core part of the IRC’s emergency response. Seven dedicated teams provide lifesaving care to women and girls. As well as counselling and medical advice, survivors are given ‘post-rape kits’, consisting of antibiotics, antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV infection, and emergency contraception.
Elinor Raikes, the IRC’s Deputy Regional Director in DRC, said: “Women and girls have been on the frontline of the crisis in Congo for too long and the recent conflict has put them at even more risk from sexual and physical violence. Violence against women and girls takes place in every conflict, which is why it is essential to prevent abuse in the first place and support survivors as they resume their role as leaders within their families and communities.”
The IRC is also providing emergency delivery kits to visibly pregnant women in three camps around Goma to ensure women are able to deliver their babies safely even if they are unable to reach a health centre. By the end of March the IRC will also have renovated 46 schools in North Kivu, which were damaged by fighting and looting.
The IRC has been operating in the region since 1996 and is currently the largest aid and development organisation in the Kivus, reaching an estimated 1.8 million people. Current IRC current programmes focus on emergency assistance, healthcare, women’s protection and empowerment, education and strengthening communities’ capacity for recovery
Contact:
Paul Donohoe (London) +44 (0)20 7692 2727/ 07779 624 385/ Paul.Donohoe@rescue-uk.org
Sinziana Demian (Goma) +243 (0)995 200 516/ Sinziana.Demian@rescue.org
NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, field visits, or interviews with experts on this issue, please contact the IRC staff above and follow @IRCUkNews for updates.
1. Based on caseload of women and girls using IRC services.
About the International Rescue Committee: A global leader in humanitarian assistance for 80 years, the International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst crises and helps refugees and others uprooted by conflict, disaster and persecution to survive and rebuild their lives. At work in more than 40 countries, the IRC works to restore safety, hope, opportunity and dignity.
The IRC is recognised globally as a leader in preventing and responding to violence against women. In emergencies the IRC delivers urgent care for victims of assault and in longstanding crises we provide safe places for women. In the aftermath of war, the IRC addresses the root causes of violence against women by helping them gain greater economic independence and play a more meaningful role in decision-making. Last year International Rescue Committee supported 16,000 survivors of gender based violence across the world.
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William Hague and Angelina Jolie – caption competition

Posted by
Tuesday 26 March 2013 10.49 GMT The Guardian

The UK foreign secretary is on a fact-finding mission with the actor. What bons mots might this great meeting of minds produce?

No, Brad Pitt hasn't accidentally gone out in his Benjamin Button prosthetics again. This is William Hague, the foreign secretary, accompanying Angelina Jolie on a fact-finding mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo. He's prioritising justice for victims of war-zone rape as part of Britain's G8 presidency; she recently directed a film on the subject. Look at them. Brains and beauty. Authority and charisma. All of these qualities, standing right next to William Hague.
But what might Angelina be saying to her companion?
















Nothing would draw more attention to their trip and campaign against sexual violence than wedding news.  Which makes me think its probably true.  -- Fussy






Popsugar

Angelina Jolie wore a new plain gold ring on her finger as she walked through LAX on Friday night. She left LA for a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda to raise awareness of sexual violence in war zones. Angelina is visiting the two nations with William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, and a group of journalists. She will be meeting with survivors of sexual violence, as well as doctors and lawyers, to discuss how to help the victims. The subject of sexual violence in war-torn countries isn't a new one for Angie, who made her directorial debut with In the Land of Blood and Honey, a film that touched on Bosnia's rape victims. Aside from her humanitarian work, Angelina has been keeping busy with Miraval, the new rose she launched with Brad Pitt. The wine has been enjoying a lot of succes, including rave reviews from top wine experts.










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Angelina Jolie Visits CARE Project Addressing Gender-Based Violence in the DRC

UN Special Envoy Jolie, British Foreign Secretary, See Firsthand the Impact on Women
GOMA, Congo, The Dem. Rep. of (March 26, 2013) - Yesterday, CARE hosted UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie and British Foreign Secretary William Hauge as they visited a CARE-supported sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV) project in the Lac Vert Internally Displaced People's camp, on the outskirts of Goma, North Kivu.
Hague said that he came to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to understand better the needs of survivors of sexual violence in advance of the coming G8 meeting in London, when, for the first time in the G8's history, foreign ministers will hold high-level discussions on the topic of gender-based violence.
"Both Hague and Jolie were very interested in finding out about the current situation in the camp, and what the sexual violence survivors needed the most," said Yawo Douvon, CARE's country director in the DRC. "CARE hopes that this visit will shed more light on the issues women are facing in DRC every day. Sexual- and gender-based violence continues to be a major concern for CARE, especially with the volatile situation that persists in North Kivu, eastern DRC."
"We are still seeing people arriving every day in camps such Lac Vert after having fled the recent eruption of violence in Kitchanga, which displaced nearly 100,000 people this month," Douvon explained. "Many of them are women with children. Many have survived sexual violence on their long journey to safety – a week by foot, through fields and forest, which was anything but safe. It is a grim situation."
CARE works in three camps on the outskirts of Goma, including Lac Vert, training educators to offer support and advice to sexual violence survivors on how and where to access medical care. The educators also provide advice on measures that can be taken to avoid attacks and work with women and men to address attitudes and traditions that make women and girls, in particular, vulnerable to such violence.
CARE also provides financial support to sexual violence survivors and other vulnerable groups so that they can start businesses such as selling cooked food or goods in the camp. This initiative not only helps them regain a sense of normality and dignity but also prevents them from being exposed to further sexual violence.
On March 17, CARE provided 186 cash transfers to sexual violence survivors and other vulnerable people in Lac Vert camp.
"Jolie said she was impressed by how important the cash transfers were to the women she spoke to and how, despite the many difficulties they are struggling with it, this seems to have brought them hope," said Douvon. "But there is a great need for more and better emergency medical care to tend to sexual violence survivors' needs, especially post-exposure prophylaxis. They are also in urgent need of shelter, and access to water and sanitation. It is important that we put the survivors first, and we tend to their immediate medical and psychosocial needs above all."
Hague and Jolie's visit comes less than three weeks before the issue of sexual violence against women gets attention at the G8 meeting of foreign ministers in London. Hague has said he will promote an international protocol at the April 11 meeting to end impunity for rape and other sexual assaults.
In addition, CARE has prioritized the issue of gender-based violence in our policy and advocacy efforts. Earlier this month, the issue came into the spotlight at the 2013 CARE Conference & International Women's Day Celebration in Washington D.C. More than 300 advocates and partners gathered to urge the U.S. government to continue their support behind programs that address gender-based violence.
Learn more about CARE's work helping communities bring an end to the pervasive, and often deadly, scourge of violence against women >

About CARE: Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty and providing lifesaving assistance in emergencies. In 84 countries around the world, CARE places special focus on working alongside poor girls and women because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to help lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty. CARE and our local partners implement long-term development programs and humanitarian assistance interventions in the Great Lakes countries (DRC, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi), including programs to prevent sexual- and gender-based violence and provide support to survivors. To learn more, visit www.care.org.







Cosmo UK

Angelina Jolie campaigns to end rape in warzones

26 March 2013 by Kayleigh Dray

Angelina Jolie, in her campaign to end rape, has joined the British Foreign Secretary to speak to survivors of sexual violence and meet political leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo...

 Angelina Jolie strives to end rape worldwide


Angelina Jolie, in a bid to end rape on a worldwide scale, has joined British Foreign Secretary William Hague to campaign against sexual violence in warzones.
RAPE MEANS RAPE
And the Hollywood actress had plenty to say on the subject of sexual violence:
"It's often that we speak about the drama and the pain and the horrors of the Congo but it's also a wonderful place with extraordinary people."
BRAD PITT AND ANGELINA JOLIE'S LOVED UP MOMENTS
"The big message is that this initiative started by the Foreign Secretary is extraordinary, but what we're here to do is to try to scale it up and make this a worldwide focus."
"It's been going on in every war, every crisis and it's often an afterthought - and it's due time to end this, and put an end to impunity, and they deserve it."
REPORTING RAPE
It's not the first time Angelina has attempted to bring a worldwide focus to the subject of rape; her 2011 film In The Land Of Blood And Honey depicted the experiences of women in the infamous rape camps set up during ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
And it was this movie which acted as a catalyst for the UK's Preventing Sexual Violence initiative.
In three weeks, foreign ministers will meet in London with their counterparts in the US, France, Canada, Japan, Germany, Russia and Italy for the annual meeting of the G8.
LOVE IT OR LOATHE IT: ANGELINA JOLIE
And, there, Angelina will urge the ministers to help resolve the important issue of sexual violence, putting measures in place to secure justice for survivors of rape and deter perpetrators.
Mr Hague has revealed he's just as dedicated to the cause as Angelina Jolie, saying:
"Sexual violence in conflict has to be resolved if conflicts are going to be resolved, because when rape is used as a weapon of war it makes communities harder to bring together, and much harder for people to get on with their lives afterwards."
CONTACTS AND CENTRE POINTS FOR RAPE VICTIMS
We hope that Angelina Jolie and the British Foreign Secretary succeed in their worthy cause; it's amazing to see a Hollywood actress working so tirelessly to create a better world for women worldwide.





The Week One-Minute Read


The odd couple of international relations stranded in Rwandan capital by cancelled helicopter flight

LAST UPDATED AT 10:55 ON Mon 25 Mar 2013
 
THE Hollywood star often described as the most beautiful woman in the world and the balding Foreign Secretary from Yorkshire described as William Hague have hit a snag in their joint mission to Africa.

The unlikely couple have been marooned in the Rwandan capital of Kigali after a "tropical downpour" grounded their helicopter, reports Channel 4 presenter Cathy Newman, who is travelling with them. Hague and Jolie were supposed to meet survivors of "warzone rape" today, tweeted Newman, but the storm has forced "stressed diplomats" to "reconfigure" the schedule.

"No gorillas, but plenty of mist," Newman wrote in a cheerful message from the Rwandan capital.

At least the delayed flight will give Jolie, Hague and Newman plenty of time to chat. Which may not be a pleasant experience for Hague, given Newman's burgeoning reputation as a tenacious reporter following her dogged pursuit of allegations of improper conduct by the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard earlier this year. Newman even managed to speak about the issue to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg by posing as a caller – Cathy from Dulwich – to his LBC radio phone-in programme.

Newman has reported that the British government's efforts to help victims of warzone rape include a £1 million pledge to help UN efforts secure justice for victims and a 70-strong team of police, lawyers, psychologists, doctors and forensic experts to gather evidence of rape in warzones. Whether these efforts will "outlast Britain's G8 presidency" is one of the questions she’ll be putting to Hague, possibly in the rain-lashed airport terminal at Kigali.

Newman seems less likely to interrogate Jolie, whom she has vigorously defended against those who deride her work as a UN special envoy as a "vanity project".

"A glance at her [Jolie's] humanitarian work to date may leave you wondering how she ever finds time for her acting," marvelled Newman on her Channel 4 blog. "And if anyone wonders if she'll receive special treatment on this trip, I'm assured the answer is no. She'll be travelling without an entourage, and sharing the same accommodation and travel arrangements as the rest of us."



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