Study: rape stats in DR Congo 26 times higher than thought

The rate at which women in Congo are raped is found to be 26 times higher than usually cited by the UN, The American journal of Public Health reported yesterday. The new data are seen as more realistic, but rape is still thought to be underreported.

The study used 2007 health data from the Congolese government and found that 400,000 women between the ages of 15 and 49 were raped in a twelve-month period in 2006 and 2007. Rates of sexual violence cited by the UN are as low as 15,300 cases for 2008 and 2009.

Where previous estimates used police and health reports to conjure up a number, this study, titled Estimates and Determinants of Sexual Violence Against Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, used data from a 2007 government survey. The number is higher because statistics not only include victims who went to the police, but also a cross section of the Congolese population.

Overall, approximately 1.8 women were raped at least once. Roughly 3 million women were subjected to acts of sexual violence by an intimate partner, showing how far the culture of rape reaches.

In addition to the chilling rates, the study also found that sexual violence is much more wide spread geographically than thought before. Congo's conflict is usually thought to be confined to the Eastern Kivus, but rates of rape that are nearly as high are reported in the northwestern province of Équateur.

[related-articles]The study excludes cases of sexual violence against boys and men and is still seen to underestimate the problem. In late 2009, the American newspaper the New York Times alerted its readers to increasing numbers of men being raped in Congo.