The United Nations envoys dealing with sexual violence in conflict and the head of the Organization’s peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have welcomed the conviction of 11 Congolese militia fighters for raping dozens of children – including an 18-month-old toddler – in the vast country’s restive east.

The Special Representatives of the UN Secretary-General, respectively on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, and for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, jointly welcomed the decision by military justice authorities in the DRC on the conviction of a provincial parliamentarian and members of the ‘Army of Jesus’ militia for the crimes against humanity of rape for dozens of children between 2013 and 2016 in Kavumu, which is located in DRC’s South Kivu Province. Read more…