The United Nations has issued a report that survivors of a horrific mass rape attack in eastern Congo last year have suffered reprisals, and a judicial inquiry into the violence has been suspended.
At least 387 people were raped in the Walikale territory in late July and early August last year, including men, children and a month-old baby boy.
While investigators said that the rapes could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, Wednesday's report also noted that only one person has been indicted on any criminal charges in connection with the violence.
More than 150 victims and witnesses have been interviewed, but the report by the U.N. Joint Human Rights Office in Congo on Wednesday said that a judicial inquiry had to be suspended because of the reprisal attacks.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged the Congolese government to do more to stop the violence and called on the international community to better equip the U.N. mission in Congo. "The government should pursue its efforts to bring perpetrators to justice and ensure that victims and witnesses are protected, given the high risk of reprisals," she said.
Can you say, "Outrageous"? How sad is it that the people who came forward about the crimes against them are now suffering reprisals and left to fend for themselves? Suspending the investigation is letting the perpetrators win. There should be a zero-tolerance policy against the practice of using rape as a weapon, and perpetrators should be punished. The government in the Congo can't figure out how to make that happen? We're not buying it.
Read more at Yahoo News.
In other news: GOP Sides With Food Companies Over Obama.