East-Congo

'This is no life. The rapes, the violence, the killings. Nobody is being punished. Impunity rules. I want to continue believing, in the name of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the international community, that we have the right to live.'

Marie-Noel Ciguru lives and works in the heart of the East-Congolese conflict: Goma. She supports women and young girls that are victims of rape. Rape is a systematic instrument in East-Congo's civil war.

'War prevails here. This means terror, death, rape, violence, HIV and the plundering of mineral resources. Gold, diamonds, uranium, cobalt, copper.' Because of political instability in the country, armed groups are in power. These groups rule the area while the population suffers. The most expensive minerals in the world are subject to war, and finally sold to companies in the West. Western governments know about it.

An estimated 5 million people are killed as a consequence of conflict in East-Congo, over the last ten years. Almost no Western citizen knows the real reasons behind this war.