October 14 – 26. Front Line Programme Manager Tara Madden visited the Democratic Republic of Congo for a series of meetings with human rights defenders from throughout the country.

The objective of the trip was to assess the nature and severity of threats against human rights defenders and discuss the manner in which Front Line can most effectively respond to their immediate and long-term needs. While there, Tara also met with women human rights defenders from Goma and Uvira.

Extract from Tara Madden’s blog:

I'm sitting by Lake Kivu in Goma. The water lapping peacefully against the shore is in stark contrast to the horrific stories of sexual violence told by a group of 18 women human rights defenders this morning. They were contributing to a discussion on the risks faced by women human rights defenders in the North Kivu province.

One of the women human rights defenders had accompanied a woman victim of rape from their village in the mountains to the hospital this morning. They had killed her husband. She had been raped by seven men in the field where she grew crops. She was four months pregnant. The same woman human rights defender whose work is to accompany and assist victims of rape said her name is known to those who commit these rapes. But they haven't been able to put her face to the name yet. “The rural areas are the most dangerous. You could be attacked at any time by armed groups lying in wait on any of the roads in the territories outside Goma.”

Despite the risks, these women continue taking legal cases against those who commit rape, providing schooling for children of rape, supporting the return to their homes of those displaced by war, teaching skills in agriculture and sewing, how to read and write, how to get micro-credit and on human rights. They work in dynamic networks of solidarity and collaboration. They exchange knowledge and resources.

They want to know the strategies used by human rights defenders in other countries in order to be successful in prosecuting those responsible for human rights violations. They want security training in order to protect themselves when they go out into the rural areas. They want a government that is present, a government that listens. They want peace in North Kivu.

To read more of Tara's blog from the DRC as well as other blog entries from the field go to Blogs from the Front Line.

View Front Line video of its work in DRC including support of TIC pour Tous (Information Technology for Everyone), that was established in 2007 with the aim of providing IT resource centres and training for HRDs throughout the country.