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The European Parliament announced last night that this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought will be awarded to Dr Mukwege, a Congolese gynaecologist and Director of Panzi hospital, for his fight to protect victims of sexual violence who have sustained serious injuries in Eastern Congo. The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) decade-long support to the Panzi Hospital has made it an important referral hospital for the area. ECHO’s aim is to focus on medical and psychological care for survivors of Sexual Gender Based Violence but also to help improve maternal and reproductive and general health care for a population deprived of adequate health care in their rural homes.
The security and humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains critical in the eastern provinces and Katanga where around 40 armed groups continue to wreak havoc. Civilians continue to bear the brunt of this long-standing conflict and face exactions such as abductions, recruitment of child soldiers, killings, torture and rape. As a direct result of the conflict some 2.6 million people are currently displaced within DRC, while some almost half a million Congolese have taken refuge in neighbouring countries.
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