Civilians in Africa's conflict zones—particularly women and children, but also men—are often vulnerable to sexual violence, including rape, sexual assault, mutilation, forced prostitution, sexual slavery, and other abuses. Some incidences appear to be opportunistic, the product of a larger breakdown in the rule of law and social order that may occur amid conflict. In other cases, sexual violence has also been employed by combatant groups as a strategic tool. Perpetrators may include members of the security forces, rebel movements, militias, or other non-state armed groups. In some cases, individuals at the highest levels of the state have been accused of ordering, condoning, or tolerating such violence. There have also been instances where humanitarian and peacekeeping workers have been accused of sexual abuse and exploitation. The issue of sexual violence in conflict is far from confined to Sub-Saharan Africa (henceforth, "Africa"), and it has not been a salient feature of all African conflicts. Sexual violence by combatant groups in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, for example, drew widespread international attention. Moreover, conflict settings are not necessarily those in which sexual abuse is most prevalent. Sexual atrocities have nevertheless been a feature of many African conflicts over the past two decades, including in active conflicts in Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan; and in recent conflicts in Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville (Republic of Congo), Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and northern Uganda. Such acts have been particularly prevalent in eastern DRC, where security forces, rebel organizations, militias, and other armed groups have inflicted sexual violence upon the civilian population on a massive scale. This report focuses on conflicts in Africa in which sexual violence is reported to be widespread or systematic. It describes the context in which such violence takes place, selected cases where it is currently occurring, and U.S. policy responses. The report concludes with a discussion of potential policy considerations, including the design and effectiveness of U.S. programs; coordination between agencies and between international donors; and the question of whether policy responses to sexual violence can be separated from the broader context in which such violence occurs. The report includes a detailed case study of DRC, which has drawn particular attention from the Obama Administration and the 111 th Congress. In recent years, Congress has demonstrated an interest in drawing attention to sexual violence in conflict zones, including through legislation, hearings, and other activities. Congressional interest has encompassed the humanitarian, health-related, socio-economic, and security implications of such violence, and ways in which U.S. and multilateral policies can respond to or prevent it. In May 2009, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on "Confronting Rape and Other Forms of Violence Against Women in Conflict Zones—Spotlight: DRC and Sudan." The House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee also held several hearings in 2009 on the broader topic of international violence against women. Two pieces of legislation that pertain to sexual violence in African conflict settings were passed during the 111 th Congress. These were the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 ( P.L. 111-172 ) and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ( P.L. 111-203 ), which includes an amendment to regulate "conflict minerals" that references reported links between illicit mining activities and high levels of sexual and gender-based violence in DRC. In addition, several pieces of draft legislation were introduced during the 111 th Congress on the overlapping issues of international violence against women and sexual violence in conflict zones. These include H.Res. 1676 (Carnahan); H.R. 5121 (Clarke); S. 2982 (Kerry); H.R. 4594 (Delahunt); H.Res. 931 (Carson); and H.J.Res. 10 (Jackson-Lee). Several pieces of Africa-focused draft legislation also reference sexual violence in connection with specific countires, including S.Res. 345 (Boxer), on Guinea; S. 3757 (Feingold), on Ethiopia; and H.Res. 1588 (Capuano), on Sudan. At least one piece of related draft legislation has been introduced during the 112 th Congress: on January 7, 2011, H.J.Res. 12 (Jackson Lee), on international gender-based violence, was introduced in the House. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ( P.L. 111-203 , July 21, 2010) includes an provision on "conflict minerals" that references reported links between illicit mining activities and high levels of sexual and gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The provision (Section 1502 of the act) requires U.S.-listed companies whose products are made from certain minerals associated with conflict areas in central Africa to annually disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission whether the minerals used in their products were mined in Congo or neighboring countries. Among other provisions, it also requires the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop and submit to Congress a strategy "to address the linkages between human rights abuses, armed groups, mining of conflict minerals, and commercial products," and requires the U.S. Comptroller General to submit to Congress a report that includes "an assessment of the rate of sexual- and gender-based violence in war-torn areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and adjoining countries." In annual and supplemental appropriations legislation, the 111 th Congress directed specific funds to be used in addressing the issue of sexual violence in African conflict zones, particularly with regard to Congo: The Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010 ( P.L. 111-212 , Section 1012) allocated $15 million in FY2010 Economic Support Fund (ESF) funds "for necessary expenses for emergency security and humanitarian assistance for civilians, particularly women and girls, in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo." The conference report accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 ( P.L. 111-117 ) directed "not less than" $10 million to address gender-based violence, including for fistula repair and other assistance for victims, and training and support for health and law enforcement personnel. P.L. 111-117 also stated that funds for bilateral Development Assistance, Economic Support Fund assistance, and International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement assistance "shall be made available for programs to address sexual and gender-based violence" overseas, and that bilateral economic assistance and international security assistance programs that provide funding for foreign police, judicial, and military officials "shall address, where appropriate, gender-based violence." The Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009 ( P.L. 111-32 ) provided $10 million in Economic Support Funds (ESF) for "programs and activities to assist victims of gender-based violence" in DRC. In an explanatory statement attached to the act, appropriators directed the State Department and USAID to report to Congress on "programs addressing sexual and gender-based violence and how these issues are being integrated into foreign police, judicial and military training programs." The conference report accompanying P.L. 111-117 also directed the Department of State, in consultation with USAID, "to provide a report to the Committees on Appropriations outlining a comprehensive strategy and budget to address gender-based violence in the DRC" that "should describe how United States Government efforts fit into multi-donor and host government strategies to address this issue." Appropriators directed the Department to consult with the Committees on Appropriations prior to developing the strategy. A strategy was briefed to Congress by the Administration in early January 2011. Widespread sexual violence has been reported as a feature of several active conflicts in Africa. Most prominent in scale are the conflicts in eastern DRC and the Darfur region of Sudan. In DRC, which will be discussed in the " Case Study: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) " section below, armed groups have committed sexual atrocities on a massive scale during recurrent internal conflicts over the past two decades. In Darfur, rape has reportedly been perpetrated by government and government-allied forces since 2003 amid fighting between Sudanese security forces and allied pro-government militias known as janjaweed , rebel groups, and other irregular forces. United Nations officials, advocacy groups, news reports, and witness accounts allege that sexual violence was systematically employed in Darfur during the height of the conflict (2003-2006) as a weapon of war and ethnic cleansing, part of a government counterinsurgency strategy that has orchestrated mass violence against civilians. Similar allegations were made against the Sudanese government in the context of the North-South civil war, which officially ended in January 2005. Between July 2008 and June 2010, the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) recorded 166 incidents of sexual violence directly related to clashes between the government and armed groups, or to inter-communal fighting and banditry. While few perpetrators have been traced, 73% of suspects were described as members of non-state armed groups; another 16% were identified as belonging to the Sudanese Armed Forces and police; and other survivors reported rapes by elements of Chadian armed opposition groups. According to advocacy groups, assistance for rape survivors in Darfur was "largely eliminated" in March 2009, when Sudan expelled 13 international relief organizations operating in the region in response to the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Sudan's president.