To protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence is one of the main tasks of over 100,000 peacekeepers currently deployed under the UN flag in nineteen missions on four continents to keep or restore peace. Following a deadly conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in which some three million people died, millions were displaced from their homes or sought asylum in a neighbouring country, the UN mission was successful in reducing levels of violence in the eastern part of the country through the robust posture of its military component. Unfortunately, armed groups continue to use sexual violence as a weapon of war in Africa through various forms, including sexual slavery, kidnapping, forced recruitment, forced prostitution and rape. Armed actors systematically violate women and girls in the streets, fields and homes. In the DRC, the threat and the use of violence by civilians, militia, armed groups, foreign armed groups and members of the Congolese Army (Forces Armees de la Republique Democratique du Congo, FARDC) are constants in the lives of women.
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