Thank you for the question.
We've been working on these issues for a number of years now. We meet with survivors all day, every day. I asked my colleagues in Beni to close the office, because the situation there had become too unbearable as a result of the massacres, the Allied Democratic Forces and the Ebola virus. That day, my colleagues told me that they couldn't close the office because they had three new cases of sexual violence.
Sexual violence is currently on the rise and is increasing in all villages and cities. Why? As my colleague said, if there were no wars or armed groups, sexual violence would decrease or become less frequent. These wars have destroyed our society. Now, there are no longer any morals or social norms. People behave as they wish. Both civilians and solders commit rape because they can do so with impunity. The justice system doesn't work. The administration is virtually non-existent. Our country has been completely destroyed.
We've even recorded cases involving MONUSCO officers. Why? The international community sends forces from countries where women's rights aren't respected. When these people commit crimes or sexual violence in our country, they're simply sent back to their country. They aren't punished and no remedy is sought for the victims. This shows impunity.
In addition, the Congolese justice system is dysfunctional. Some judges commit to working. In a few cases, the victims were able to access justice, we won our case and the perpetrators were convicted. However, even if the perpetrators are sent to prison, they manage to leave prison within a short amount of time. They return to the communities and they threaten the activists, lawyers and victims.
There are also the terrorists, such as the Allied Democratic Forces or the Maï-Maï. All armed groups that enter a village will rape the women to punish the people and dehumanize our community. To end this pattern of sexual violence, Canada and the other allied countries must be able to send forces to combat all these armed groups. It's necessary to start with the groups that come from abroad, the Allied Democratic Forces, who are real terrorists. Every day, they slit throats and cut open our people. The Interahamwe and FDLR must return to Rwanda. These Rwandan peoples must return home. We can then demobilize the Maï-Maï. We women must be involved in the development of a demobilization program. The other programs were planned without our presence at the table. Some important factors that could have stopped the recruitment of child soldiers weren't taken into account.
I'll let my colleague continue to elaborate on this issue before I speak about the December 23 elections.