•HRES 1227 IH 
Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the full extent of 
incidence of sexual violence is unknown as most survivors 
live in inaccessible areas, are afraid to report the attacks, 
experience repeated rapes, or did not survive them; 
Whereas sexual violence is used as a method of warfare by 
all parties to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of 
the Congo as a means to terrorize and destabilize entire 
communities; 
Whereas in 2007, it was estimated that 70 percent of all 
rapes in South Kivu were committed by nonstate armed 
groups, including foreign militia from Burundi, Rwanda, 
and Uganda, 16 percent by Democratic Republic of the 
Congo military forces, and 14 percent by civilians; 
Whereas control over the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 
natural resources is central to the ongoing conflict; 
Whereas in 2002, the United Nations Panel of Experts on 
the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other 
Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo considered nine United States business enterprises 
to be in violation of the OECD Guidelines for Multi-
national Enterprises; 
Whereas, on July 30, 2007, the United Nations Special 
Rapporteur on Violence Against Women reported, 
‘‘Women are brutally gang raped, often in front of their 
families and communities. In numerous cases, male rel-
atives are forced at gun point to rape their own daugh-
ters, mothers or sisters. Frequently women are shot or 
stabbed in their genital organs, after they are raped. 
Women, who survived months of enslavement, [said] that 
their tormentors had forced them to eat excrements or 
the human flesh of murdered relatives’’; 
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•HRES 1227 IH 
Whereas rape with the use of knives, gun barrels, beer bot-
tles, cassava roots, or sticks can result in a tear or fistula 
between a woman’s vagina and bladder or rectum, or 
both, causing the development of traumatic gynecologic 
fistula; 
Whereas women and young girls have even had their mouths 
cut off by their attackers so that they won’t report the 
crime to authorities; 
Whereas survivors of sexual violence are at an increased risk 
for unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infec-
tions, including HIV and long-term psychological trauma; 
Whereas the Panzi Hospital, a specialized institution in 
South Kivu, receives about 3,500 cases annually of 
women who suffer from traumatic fistula and other se-
vere genital injuries resulting from these sexualized 
atrocities; 
Whereas at Heal Africa Hospital in Goma, doctors reported 
treating 4,800 rape victims who required medical treat-
ment and in 2005, they performed 242 fistula-repair op-
erations; 
Whereas since 2002, over 40,000 survivors have accessed 
International Rescue Committee-supported services, in-
cluding psychosocial support, medical care, legal assist-
ance, and socioeconomic support; 
Whereas current activities to treat survivors meet only a por-
tion of the need; 
Whereas the scope of the sexual violence affects women and 
girls of all ages, from 10 months to 80 years old; 
Whereas a culture of impunity continues and rape has be-
come a societal norm; 
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•HRES 1227 IH 
Whereas in July 2006, the Congolese Parliament passed the 
Law on the Suppression of Sexual Violence, which at-
tempted to strengthen penalties and criminal procedures, 
but in reality, little action has been taken by the authori-
ties to implement the law and perpetrators continue to 
enjoy impunity; 
Whereas, on October 31, 2000, the United Nations Security 
Council adopted Security Council Resolution 1325, which 
calls on all parties to an armed conflict to take special 
measures to protect women and girls from gender-based 
violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual 
abuse, and all actors involved in peace processes to adopt 
a gender perspective, including through the involvement 
of women in all stages of peace processes and support 
local women’s peace initiatives and indigenous processes 
for conflict resolution; 
Whereas the Rome Statute of the International Criminal 
Court, which entered into force on July 1, 2002, states 
that rape ‘‘and any other form of sexual violence of com-
parable gravity’’ may constitute both ‘‘crimes against hu-
manity’’ and ‘‘war crimes’’; and 
Whereas the United States Government has codified its com-
mitment to the Democratic Republic of the Congo 
through the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Se-
curity, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006 (Public 
Law 109–456): Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) strongly condemns the use of all forms of 
sexual violence, including rape, in the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo; 
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•HRES 1227 IH 
(2) condemns the actions of all armed groups in 
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including mi-
litias and rebel groups, such as the Forces 
De´mocratiques de Libe´ration du Rwanda (FDLR), 
Mai-Mai Militia, and the Front for Patriotic Resist-
ance of Ituri, that have created a culture of impu-
nity for rape and sexual violence; 
(3) calls on the Government of the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo to develop a strategy to ad-
dress and end the large-scale sexual violence in the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo by— 
(A) protecting its civilians from violence 
and to respect and enforce the rule of law in ac-
cordance with international norms and stand-
ards; 
(B) holding all armed groups accountable 
for their actions by implementing judicial re-
forms to investigate, arrest, and try suspected 
criminals; 
(C) prosecuting and punishing members of 
the Congolese Armed Forces who have com-
mitted crimes of sexual violence and other 
atrocities; and 
(D) establishing a verification mechanism 
to ensure that officers with a track record of 
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•HRES 1227 IH 
criminal activity and rape do not receive impor-
tant posts in the Congolese Armed Forces, the 
national police, and other security services; 
(4) urges an increased effort by the United 
States through the Department of State and other 
donor countries to provide greater assistance to the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo for police and 
military human rights education and training, and 
training for those in the judicial and law enforce-
ment sector in order to improve their ability to in-
vestigate and prosecute rapists; 
(5) strongly urges the United States Agency for 
International Development to increase its assistance 
to victims of rape and sexual violence in the Demo-
cratic Republic of the Congo by investing greater re-
sources to nongovernmental organizations to provide 
health care services and medical supplies, psycho-
logical and social counseling, and legal advice to vic-
tims of rape and sexual violence; 
(6) encourages the Secretary of State, in line 
with the policy objectives set forth in the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democ-
racy Promotion Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–456), 
to support the Democratic Republic of the Congo 
and neighboring countries in their implementation of 
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•HRES 1227 IH 
the Great Lakes Pact and its protocol on the Pre-
vention and Suppression of Sexual Violence Against 
Women and Children; 
(7) calls on the Secretary of State to appoint a 
special envoy to the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo to sustain United States engagement in a 
peace process and stabilization programs, and to 
continue its leadership towards the implementation 
of the Nairobi communique´; 
(8) encourages the Secretary of State to con-
tinue to work with the heads of the other agencies 
implementing programs in the Democratic Republic 
of the Congo to develop a plan for systematically as-
sessing the United States Government’s overall 
progress in achieving the policy objectives of the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, 
and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006; 
(9) calls on the Secretary of State to encourage 
the Congolese Government to refer individuals or 
armed groups found guilty of rape and sexual vio-
lence consistent in magnitude to crimes against hu-
manity and war crimes to an international criminal 
court system; 
(10) encourages the international community to 
ensure greater coordination in its response to sexual 
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•HRES 1227 IH 
violence and to provide further humanitarian assist-
ance, particularly social development assistance of-
fering psychosocial support, medical assistance, civic 
education aimed at preventing sexual violence, and 
reintegration support to survivors of sexual and gen-
der-based violence in the eastern Democratic Repub-
lic of the Congo; 
(11) reaffirms its support for constitutional 
government, the rule of law, human rights, and 
democratic processes in the Democratic Republic of 
the Congo and calls upon regional African leaders to 
support the preservation of a democratic political 
system in the country; 
(12) encourages full implementation of United 
Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and re-
lated law and policy on the protection of women and 
girls and the promotion of their rights by empha-
sizing the responsibilities of all countries to put an 
end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible 
for genocide crimes, including those related to sexual 
and other forms of violence against women and girls; 
(13) calls on the Secretary General of the 
United Nations and the permanent members of the 
Security Council to immediately take steps to— 
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•HRES 1227 IH 
(A) ensure that the United Nations Mis-
sion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 
(MONUC) is fully funded to increase troop 
presence in the eastern Kivu provinces; 
(B) deploy MONUC to areas where sexual 
violence is most prevalent; 
(C) include an adequate number of female 
troops and police in MONUC to properly man-
age incidents of rape and sexual violence; and 
(D) provide more in depth and continuing 
gender sensitive training to its peacekeepers; 
and 
(14) encourages a transparent process for the 
government of the Democratic Republic of the Con-
go’s review of contracts mining and strongly encour-
ages United States companies investing and oper-
ating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo exert 
oversight concerning where their products are com-
ing from and who is benefitting from the trade. 
Æ 
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