A Herald Magazine article highlighting the huge problem of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo which featured SCIAF’s work with rape survivors in the country has won the 2009 Amnesty International Nations and Regions Award.

Lucy Adams, The Herald’s Chief Reporter and photographer Julie Howden, visited several SCIAF projects in DR Congo which provide medical assistance, trauma counselling, legal aid and social care to women affected by sexual violence.

Crimes of rape in the east of the country have reached epidemic proportions and are closely linked to the long-running conflict and presence of militias in the region. In some areas it is estimated that 70 per cent of women have been raped.

In the South Kivu region of eastern DR Congo alone 4,066 cases were reported between January and March last year.

In September SCIAF published a new report – Ending Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo – focusing on the shocking scale of rape and sexual abuse in the eastern region of the country.

A SCIAF campaign called on the UK Government to increase its financial assistance to help survivors of sexual violence, and use its diplomatic muscle within the international community to help resolve the underlying conflict which continues to destabilise the region.

Val Morgan, SCIAF’s Communications and Media Officer, who accompanied The Herald on their visit, said: “It is a fitting tribute that SCIAF’s work providing vital support to survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and our campaign to increase the funding from the UK Government to help the women affected, has been highlighted in The Herald’s award-winning article.

WLucy Adams and Julie Howden deserve high praise for their professionalism and the newspaper should be commended for dedicating the time of its staff to highlighting how SCIAF and its supporters are making a major difference to peoples’ lives in a very troubling environment.”


On the web:
To find out more about SCIAF’s campaign and work in the DR Congo please visit www.sciaf.org.uk/get_involved/campaigning

To read The Herald’s award-winning article visit: www.theherald.co.uk