By Inna Lazareva
YAOUNDE, Oct 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The Congolese doctor who won this year’s Nobel peace prize has called on the world to end rape as a weapon of war, saying a “system of impunity” still prevails in many of the worst-affected countries.
Denis Mukwege, joint winner of the prize with Nadia Murad, a Yazidi survivor of sexual slavery by Islamic State, urged the world to “draw a clear red line” on sexual violence in conflict.
“Today we can see that unfortunately there is a system of impunity which reigns supreme in many conflict zones concerning many of those who commit sexual violence crimes,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“I think the world has the power to draw this line, to ensure that the use of rape as a weapon of war is completely prohibited,” he said in an interview from Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mukwege, 63, founded the Panzi Hospital in 1999 to help women and girls who had been raped during the conflict in eastern Congo.
He has performed surgery on scores of women after they had been raped by armed men, and campaigned to highlight their plight. He also provides HIV/AIDS treatment as well as free maternal care.
