S*xual violence against children has dramatically increased in the war-torn eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as reported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s Executive Director Catherine Russell.
She revealed that in the week following the fall of Goma city to M23 rebels, one-third of the reported r*pe victims were children, a staggering five-fold increase in cases documented by 42 health facilities.
Medical staff are facing shortages of essential medications that help prevent HIV in r*pe survivors, a situation worsened by the sudden cut in US foreign aid, which has severely affected humanitarian efforts in the Great Lakes region.
Russell also pointed out that children as young as 12 are coerced into combat roles, worsening the ongoing phenomenon of child-soldier recruitment.
She revealed that in the week following the fall of Goma city to M23 rebels, one-third of the reported r*pe victims were children, a staggering five-fold increase in cases documented by 42 health facilities.
Medical staff are facing shortages of essential medications that help prevent HIV in r*pe survivors, a situation worsened by the sudden cut in US foreign aid, which has severely affected humanitarian efforts in the Great Lakes region.
Russell also pointed out that children as young as 12 are coerced into combat roles, worsening the ongoing phenomenon of child-soldier recruitment.
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Continued……Many children have become separated from their families amidst the chaos, with more than 1,100 identified in the first two weeks of February. The constant threat of bombardment and gunfire has left Congolese youth vulnerable to abduction, recruitment and s*xual violence.
For over three decades, s*xual violence against women and girls has marked the Western-backed resource conflict in DRC. Gathering accurate statistics is challenging, as many victims hesitate to come forward due to the stigma attached.
The UN reports that more than 700,000 people have been displaced since January, adding to the about 7 million internally displaced as of last year. By 2010, around 6 million had lost their lives, with many more uncounted since then, in a brutal Western-backed resource war involving 120 foreign-backed militia groups competing for control over DRC’s estimated $24 trillion in mineral resources. M23 stands out as the most organised of these rebel factions, with multiple UN reports indicating Western-backed Rwanda and Uganda support them.
Sources:
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-eastern-democratic-republic-congo-increasingly-exposed-sexual-violence
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgy0d3pgv0o
https://www.icrc.org/en/document/sexual-violence-survivors-democratic-republic-congo
https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/children-young-nine-face-mass-sexual-violence-and-mutilation-drc-save-children
For over three decades, s*xual violence against women and girls has marked the Western-backed resource conflict in DRC. Gathering accurate statistics is challenging, as many victims hesitate to come forward due to the stigma attached.
The UN reports that more than 700,000 people have been displaced since January, adding to the about 7 million internally displaced as of last year. By 2010, around 6 million had lost their lives, with many more uncounted since then, in a brutal Western-backed resource war involving 120 foreign-backed militia groups competing for control over DRC’s estimated $24 trillion in mineral resources. M23 stands out as the most organised of these rebel factions, with multiple UN reports indicating Western-backed Rwanda and Uganda support them.
Sources:
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-eastern-democratic-republic-congo-increasingly-exposed-sexual-violence
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgy0d3pgv0o
https://www.icrc.org/en/document/sexual-violence-survivors-democratic-republic-congo
https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/children-young-nine-face-mass-sexual-violence-and-mutilation-drc-save-children
UNICEF
Children in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo increasingly exposed to sexual violence, abduction and recruitment – UNICEF
KINSHASA/NEW YORK, 13 February 2025 – “I am deeply alarmed by the intensifying violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and its impact on children and families. In North and South Kivu provinces, we are receiving horrific reports of grave…
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THEY DENY OUR CULTURE YET FILL MUSEUMS WITH IT!
Europeans long portrayed Africans as lacking culture. And yet they couldn’t resist stealing our cultural treasures in their thousands and putting them in museums around the world - if private collectors didn’t snap them up for a small fortune first.
Experts reckon over 80% of plundered African artefacts remain in European museums. The British Museum, for example, holds over 70,000; Belgium’s Royal Museum nearly 200,000; another 75,000 are in Germany’s Ethnological Museum; and France’s Quai Branly Museum keeps almost 70,000. The list goes on.
In this clip, pan-African academic PLO Lumumba argues that one reason Europeans stripped us of our culture was to erase our identity - and thereby make the task of subjugating our people easier.
Video Credit: Kabalega Foundation (YouTube)
Europeans long portrayed Africans as lacking culture. And yet they couldn’t resist stealing our cultural treasures in their thousands and putting them in museums around the world - if private collectors didn’t snap them up for a small fortune first.
Experts reckon over 80% of plundered African artefacts remain in European museums. The British Museum, for example, holds over 70,000; Belgium’s Royal Museum nearly 200,000; another 75,000 are in Germany’s Ethnological Museum; and France’s Quai Branly Museum keeps almost 70,000. The list goes on.
In this clip, pan-African academic PLO Lumumba argues that one reason Europeans stripped us of our culture was to erase our identity - and thereby make the task of subjugating our people easier.
Video Credit: Kabalega Foundation (YouTube)
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From covert CIA operations and backing corrupt leaders, to sponsoring proxy wars and controlling global-supply chains for strategic minerals - our Facts of the Week showcase how Washington’s neocolonial involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been instrumental in keeping the country weak, divided and easy to exploit… while US corporations rake in profits.
Sources
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/congo-decolonization
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/06/the-lumumba-plot-the-secret-history-of-the-cia-and-a-cold-war-assassination-stuart-a-reid-book-review
https://fnl.mit.edu/january-february-2021/the-legacy-of-the-involvement-of-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-in-the-bombs-dropped-on-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo
Sources
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/congo-decolonization
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/06/the-lumumba-plot-the-secret-history-of-the-cia-and-a-cold-war-assassination-stuart-a-reid-book-review
https://fnl.mit.edu/january-february-2021/the-legacy-of-the-involvement-of-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-in-the-bombs-dropped-on-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo
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Continued…….. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2017/09/07/in-the-shadow-of-the-great-helmsman-mobutu-sese-sekos-life-and-legacy-in-the-dr-congo/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/09/08/congo-ex-ruler-mobutu-dies-in-exile/f77cc0d4-dfb5-4da2-8ad0-bbde640d3260/
https://www.cartercenter.org/documents/drc-mining-contracts-113007.pdf
https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/ae39717a-45e3-4175-8155-7606dfe8abaa/content
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/16/apple-and-google-named-in-us-lawsuit-over-congolese-child-cobalt-mining-deaths
https://globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/drc-apple-tesla-intel-may-source-conflict-minerals-through-failing-responsible-mineral-scheme/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/09/08/congo-ex-ruler-mobutu-dies-in-exile/f77cc0d4-dfb5-4da2-8ad0-bbde640d3260/
https://www.cartercenter.org/documents/drc-mining-contracts-113007.pdf
https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/ae39717a-45e3-4175-8155-7606dfe8abaa/content
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/16/apple-and-google-named-in-us-lawsuit-over-congolese-child-cobalt-mining-deaths
https://globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/drc-apple-tesla-intel-may-source-conflict-minerals-through-failing-responsible-mineral-scheme/
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JAMAICANS BARRED FROM OWN BEACHES: END THE BAN!
Imagine living on a beautiful island with picturesque beaches - but you’re not allowed to visit them.
That’s what life is like for Jamaicans, where less than 1% of the sandy coastline is open to the public. It’s a colonial legacy of the 1956 Beach Control Act, which grants private landowners extensive - almost exclusive - rights over coastal areas, effectively barring residents from enjoying their own shores.
As a result of this exclusion, prime beachfronts are predominantly reserved for private entities and foreign tourists, with Jamaicans marginalised in their homeland.
Under British rule, laws were instituted to favour the interests of the colonial power and its economic expansion at the expense of the local community. Although Jamaica achieved independence, these colonial-era statutes persist, perpetuating stark social and economic disparities.
Imagine living on a beautiful island with picturesque beaches - but you’re not allowed to visit them.
That’s what life is like for Jamaicans, where less than 1% of the sandy coastline is open to the public. It’s a colonial legacy of the 1956 Beach Control Act, which grants private landowners extensive - almost exclusive - rights over coastal areas, effectively barring residents from enjoying their own shores.
As a result of this exclusion, prime beachfronts are predominantly reserved for private entities and foreign tourists, with Jamaicans marginalised in their homeland.
Under British rule, laws were instituted to favour the interests of the colonial power and its economic expansion at the expense of the local community. Although Jamaica achieved independence, these colonial-era statutes persist, perpetuating stark social and economic disparities.
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Continued……This clip is part of a campaign calling for an end to the colonial-era beach law. In it, @mikaelaloach argues that denying locals access to their natural resources not only infringes upon their rights but also undermines their cultural heritage and identity.
It’s a prime example of exclusionary colonial practices creating systemic inequities impacting the quality of life of Jamaicans today, even after their so-called independence from the UK in 1962.
Video credit: @mikaelaloachy
Sources
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast-episode/banned-from-the-beach-jamaican-locals-want-their-ocean-access-back/ix0zj00x3
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/article/second-class-citizens-why-locals-in-this-island-nation-cant-use-its-stunning-beaches/o76xj99ac
https://globalvoices.org/2023/10/15/an-overseas-media-report-reignites-jamaicas-longstanding-concern-regarding-limited-beach-access/
https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/world-news/2024/11/27/jamaicans-fight-colonial-era-beach-law-in-court/
It’s a prime example of exclusionary colonial practices creating systemic inequities impacting the quality of life of Jamaicans today, even after their so-called independence from the UK in 1962.
Video credit: @mikaelaloachy
Sources
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast-episode/banned-from-the-beach-jamaican-locals-want-their-ocean-access-back/ix0zj00x3
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/article/second-class-citizens-why-locals-in-this-island-nation-cant-use-its-stunning-beaches/o76xj99ac
https://globalvoices.org/2023/10/15/an-overseas-media-report-reignites-jamaicas-longstanding-concern-regarding-limited-beach-access/
https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/world-news/2024/11/27/jamaicans-fight-colonial-era-beach-law-in-court/
SBS News
Banned from the beach: Jamaican locals want their ocean access back
For generations, Jamaicans could walk across the road, onto their beaches and into the sea. Today, campaign group JaBBEM says locals can access less than one per cent of the island’s beaches, where private landowners and foreign tourists rule. JaBBEM has…
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This week’s proverb is a call to action - don’t wait for a tragedy before trying to prevent one. It may well be in the minds of those activist racing to call for the release of Ugandan opposition politician Kiza Besigye - jailed for alleged treason. They say his health is declining dangerously as a result of his detention.
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END OF USAID? OR UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT?
Perhaps US President Donald Trump’s move to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID) isn’t about ending US subversive operations abroad but a strategic restructuring.
Top officials, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, insist the agency’s programmes are under review and, where necessary, they will be reorganised and even privatised rather than outright terminated. While hundreds of employees have been let go and some projects paused, key operations have been protected through waivers or shifted to other agencies, ensuring that vital functions continue.
Despite its humanitarian façade, USAID has a long history of involvement in covert actions worldwide, as we show in Slide 3, suggesting that such activities may continue under new oversight.
Perhaps US President Donald Trump’s move to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID) isn’t about ending US subversive operations abroad but a strategic restructuring.
Top officials, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, insist the agency’s programmes are under review and, where necessary, they will be reorganised and even privatised rather than outright terminated. While hundreds of employees have been let go and some projects paused, key operations have been protected through waivers or shifted to other agencies, ensuring that vital functions continue.
Despite its humanitarian façade, USAID has a long history of involvement in covert actions worldwide, as we show in Slide 3, suggesting that such activities may continue under new oversight.
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