We cannot fail to mention the situation in the eastern part of the Democratic...

We cannot fail to mention the situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where for several years women and children have been the favourite targets of armed groups. The atrocities committed are sometimes impossible to describe — simply horrific. Given those unimaginable atrocities, we must ask ourselves why this is happening. Looking for the underlying causes for the violence leads us to deduce that it is basically linked to economic and social considerations. Because of economic factors, armed groups have resorted to organized sexual violence so as to force the displacement of populations in order to pillage the natural resources of the regions where they operate. Likewise, they engage in violence against entire communities, often on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion, with the aim of establishing the domination of their own ethnic group in order to satisfy their political ambitions.