New York, US - A UN report, released in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday said that rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) violated the Geneva conventions and constituted a war crime. The report, co-written by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, also stated that, 'rape, as a weapon of war, is considered a crime against humanity. 'Due to the fact that these attacks were well-planned in advance and carried out in a systematic, targeted manner, the exactions committed could constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes.'

The report, however, noted that only one person had been arrested in connection with the abuses.

It also disclosed that humanitarian agencies had reported that at least 8,000 rapes occurred in the DRC in 2010, stating that, 'more than 400,000 women were raped in the one-year period from 2006 to 2007.

'That works out to roughly 48 rapes every hour,' it added.

The report further said that witness accounts said armed members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), were behind the sexual violence.

The FDLR is linked to the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

PANA recalled that a UN human rights team found that hundreds of women were gang-raped in late July and early August 2010 by members of FDLR and a local militia called Mai-Mai.

Last December, the UN Security Council froze the assets and banned Lt.-Col. Innocent Zimurinda and senior leaders of the FDLR from travelling, for allegedly recruiting child soldiers, orchestrating mass rapes, summary executions of child soldiers and general human rights abuses.

Pana 08/07/2011