In the wake of Jo-Ellen Fair’s attention to media representations of conflict in Africa Yurie Hong (Classics, GWS, and contributor to PCS 211) passed along this article on the related issues of civil conflict and rape in the Congo. Secretary of State Clinton has visited the region and committed herself to addressing the problem. A first response has been put into effect — sending trainers to integrate rape prevention into the instruction of Congolese military personnel. How far does this go and what more could/should the U.S. do? The link is here.
Excerpt: “Rape-prevention was a tricky subject for the American instructors. “That’s something that we didn’t know how to do. We don’t have those textbooks,” one officer told Stars and Stripes. Indeed, the American military itself has long been marred by a rate of sexual assault twice that of the civilian population. As a curriculum for foreign students, rape-prevention was new to the American trainers. The command, based in Germany, is taking the sexual violence in Congo seriously. Using information gathered on the ground, U.S. Command Africa is developing an anti-sexual violence program to integrate into the training of forces in the Congo.”