Published 15:40 IST, September 22nd 2019
Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege starts fund for sexual violence survivors
Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege is set to start funds for sexual assault victims. Dr. Denis has treated over 50,000 victims of sexual assault, still working for it
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bel Peace Prize-winning doctor whose hospital in war-ridden Congo h treated more than 50,000 victims of sexual violence has started a fund with objective of providing restitution for conflict victims worldwide. In an interview on September 21, Dr. Denis Mukwege said reportedly said that he and his team at his Panzi Hospital in eastern Bukavu province can physically and psychologically assist victims of molestation and or abuse, but only real way to heal victims is for society to accept wrong which was done to m through reparations.
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Highlights of interview
Dr. Mukwege said that legal action can be taken against alleged criminal but even in cases where women win re is reparation. bel laureate said that reparations can be individual or collective, symbolic or financial depending on victim case and context. In some cases, women are just asking us to ask leers and said that he apologizes for what happened to m because he may be a leer in this place and he did t protect m. n maybe it shall be eugh for women. In or cases, women may want financial repayments to support m, to pay for school or return to previous engments or start new ones. This fund will work in different ways depending on conflicts he stated.
For a dece, Dr. Denis has been fighting for a global fund due to what is happening in Congo, and w everywhere re is a conflict. fund is attempting to get governments and private undertakings to give money but its board shall also include victims of sexual violence and civil society members. Pledging $2 million a year for three years, France is first country to commit to cause in a significant show of support, Mukwege has said. bel laureate is in New York on a tour spearheed by Doctors of World, an important funder of Panzi Hospital. tour shall take him to states of California and Washington to talk to several foundations about fund. On heels of UN General Assembly, Mukwege is also planning to meet many world leers and attend events.
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Mukwege has said Female survivors worldwide face similar hardships and that he has recently seen how sexual violence victims from Bosnian war have overcome ir hardships and how y can possibly help Congolese women to help face this problem. Dr. Denise has also travelled to South Korea to see "comfort women" used as sex slaves by Japanese soldiers in World War II and visited Colombia and victims of Korean civil war. He plans to start programs for victims of sexual crimes in Central African Republic and Burundi.
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bel laureates to work toger
Mukwege shared 2018 bel peace prize with Nia Mur, a Yazidi woman who was molested by Islamic State militants in Iraq and has been vocating globally for victims of sex crimes. Dr. Mugweke said that she and he shall work toger ding that when he was in Iraq to see what was happening re and he hopes that this year he will start to support Yazidi women. program will be conducted in different camps where Yazidis are and t in Sinjar province where Islamic State militants stormed Yazidi communities in 2014. doctor has spent a better part of his life medically aiding female victims of sexual assault. Today his policy is to work more with men because he thinks that it is very important to talk about positive masculinity.
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“We are really in a patriarchal system where men dominate everything and women are treated just as objects,” he said. “We need to change our way to treat women and see women in our society and ... let young boys grow up to respect women and understand that women are equal to men — and this has to start very early.”
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10:40 IST, September 22nd 2019