Women’s bodies as battlefields in Congo: war rapes and massacres in the world’s indifference

In Congo, while the United Nations speaks right now of a fragile ceasefire, unspeakable atrocities are being committed on the ground: war rapes, massacres, and violence against innocent civilians. Women become targets and symbols of a war that strikes bodies to annihilate consciences. Over 7,000 victims of sexual violence in just the first months of 2025 tell of a tragedy the world continues to ignore

After years of silence and desperation, a piece of news arrives from the heart of Africa that sounds like a whisper of hope. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the war in the eastern part of the country continues to devour human lives and forests, the United Nations speaks for the first time of a “real possibility of a ceasefire and lasting peace.”

A signal that, although fragile, could open the way to a different future for millions of people exhausted by a conflict that has lasted for decades and has cost the dignity of hundreds of women.

Launching this glimmer of hope is Huang Xia, UN Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, who on October 13 reported to the Security Council:

There is real hope of finally reaching a ceasefire that will pave the way for a definitive solution to the conflict.

Agreements signed, truces violated

In recent months, African and international diplomacy has tried to reignite dialogue. The Washington Agreement, signed on June 27 between the DRC and Rwanda, and the Doha Declaration, signed on July 19 between the Congolese government and the Congo River/M23 alliance thanks to Qatar’s mediation, represented important steps. Yet, as Huang Xia himself admits, the reality on the ground remains dramatic:

Peace efforts are promising, but they have not yet kept their promises. The agreed ceasefire is not being respected.

The UN envoy’s words weigh like stones. Because while people were talking about peace in Washington and Doha, in eastern Congo they continued to kill, rape, and destroy.

The reality on the ground: massacres and mass rapes

The denunciations by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International tell of a nightmare that continues in general indifference. Despite peace negotiations, the M23 rebels, militarily supported by Rwanda (an accusation that Kigali rejects), have carried out mass killings, collective rapes, and atrocities against civilians.

According to reports published in the summer of 2025, at least 140 people were killed in July alone, but the real number could exceed 300 victims in the territory of Rutshuru, in North Kivu.

Survivors recount horrors difficult even to imagine. One woman saw her husband massacred with a machete before being forced – along with 70 other people – to march to the banks of a river.

They ordered us to sit on the edge. Then they started shooting. I’m alive only because I fell into the water, she recounts, her voice broken by the memory.

Another witness saw his wife and four children die under the rebels’ bullets.
At least 14 villages near Virunga National Park, one of the richest and most precious biodiversity areas on the planet, have been devastated.

Women’s bodies as a battlefield

The Amnesty International report denounces the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war — a ferocity exercised both by M23 rebels and by the Wazalendo, a coalition of militias supported by the Congolese army.

One survivor tells of being captured by two M23 militiamen on January 27, the day the city of Goma fell under rebel control:

One wanted to kill me. The other said: ‘No, she’s beautiful, we’ll sleep with her.’ Since then I can’t sleep anymore. Every time I see an armed soldier, I go back there, to that moment.

According to Doctors Without Borders, between January and April 2025 nearly 7,400 women were treated for sexual violence in the Goma area alone. In Sake, not far away, victims numbered over 2,400 in the same period.

Amnesty also documents summary executions, torture, kidnappings of doctors and patients, and the illegal detention of journalists and activists. Every day, the civilian population pays the highest price of a conflict that spares no one.

Not just Gaza, there’s also an unprecedented humanitarian crisis here

Since January 2025, over 1.6 million people have been forced to abandon their homes, according to data from OCHA, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs. More than 68% of displacements are directly linked to fighting.

Villages erased from the maps, families taking refuge in camps without water or food, traumatized children who no longer remember what it means to go to school. And the Congo rainforest, the second green lung of the planet, is also dying with them: war fuels deforestation, survival hunting, and the plundering of natural resources.

In his speech, Huang Xia praised the diplomatic work of the United States and Qatar, but reiterated that the time for words is over:

The humanitarian crisis is catastrophic. An immediate and unconditional ceasefire is needed.

France has also called for the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2773, which reaffirms the DRC’s sovereignty and imposes the cessation of hostilities by M23.

The resolution must be fully respected – declared French ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont – starting with the withdrawal of Rwandan forces from Congolese territory and the end of their support for the rebels.

But while diplomats talk about peace, in the Kivu provinces the war continues.

The deep roots of the conflict

Peace, however, cannot be born only from signatures on agreements. As the UN envoy recalled, we need to address the root causes of war: extreme poverty, exploitation of natural resources, corruption, inequalities, and the absence of strong institutions.

An important reference remains the 2013 Addis Ababa Framework, signed to end Congo’s chronic instability. A document that, twelve years later, remains a moral and political compass, but needs to be accompanied by concrete facts, not just promises.

The road to peace is fragile, but every small step counts. In Congo, the wound of humanity and that of nature merge: where war destroys, even the earth stops breathing. Stopping the shooting and restoring dignity means not only saving lives, but giving life a chance to grow again — in people, in communities, in forests.

Sources: UN / Human Rights Watch / Amnesty International / MSF