Iboko, 9 March 2011- In Equateur province, the United Nations marked the International Women's Day with activities to raise public awareness on the issue of violence against women. This choice was not fortuitous, as the condition of women in Iboko, as in much of Equateur, is appalling. As part of Bikoro territory, Iboko is one of those places where discrimination against women and girls is coupled with on ethnic bias. In this locality of 80,000…
Kindu, 8 March 2011 – In Kindu, Maniema province, all female staff of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), joined by local women from different walks of life, converged on a public place and listened several speeches delivered on this year's theme for the International Women's Day. In this eclectic celebration, European expatriate women were seen walking side by side their Congolese and other…
Bukavu, 8 March 2011 – International Women's Day was celebrated amidst confusion in Bukavu, the provincial capital of South Kivu. The event was marked by a big march attended by several women displaying banners and symbols of their political parties. As they march past, they chanted party slogans. On their part female staff members of the UN Mission Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), along with those from UN…
Lubumbashi, 8 March 2011 – International Women's Day was celebrated throughout Katanga province, but with more fervor in the capital Lubumbashi, where a three-hour parade drew women from all walks of life. At the end of the parade, the Provincial Minister for Gender, Women and Children appealed to her peers to seek and go out after opportunities offered to them. In particular, she urged them to take part in the country's general elections…
Kisangani, 3 mars 2011 – Just days before the International Women's Day celebrations on March 8, the UN Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) organized an awareness campaign for women on gender issues in the Tshopo district of Kisangani, Oriental Province. Under the guidance of MONUSCO Public Information Division and the UN Joint Human Rights Office, the campaign was to raise awareness on gender parity in their community, where women…
Kinshasa, 9 March 2011 – Women of the Democratic Republic of Congo joined their counterparts the world over to celebrate the first 100 years of the International Women's Day on March 8. This year's theme was: "Equal access to education, training, science and technology for all men and women as well as boys and girls - access to equal opportunities in an equally representative Congo". Hundreds of women from around Kinshasa, the country's capital…
Bukavu, 7 March 2011 – Since 2002, the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) has facilitated the voluntary return to their original countries of at least two foreign combatants and their dependents each week. In 2010 alone, 1,165 non-Congolese ex-combatants were repatriated through MONUSCO's Demobilization, Disarmament, Repatriation, Reintegration and Resettlement (DDRRR) program, and since the beginning of this…
Bukavu, 3 March 2011 – With the realization that acts of sexual misconduct committed by a small minority have devastating effects on the overall image of peacekeeping, troops of the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) in Bukavu, South Kivu province, held a workshop designed to explore strategies to attain self-discipline within their ranks. The 20 participants were drawn from different contingents and companies…
Goma, 2 March 2011 – Inspector General Abdallah Wafy, Police Chief of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO,) was in Goma, North Kivu province, where he, along with several provincial authorities, attended two separate award ceremonies. The first ceremony was a medal parade involving 125 MONUSCO police officers, who received the UN medal after completion of seven months of service. The second event…
Lubumbashi, 4 March 2011 - In preparation for the International Women's Day celebrated on the 8th of March, MONUSCO's Public Information Division in Lubumbashi distributed fabrics to five local women's associations. This modest ceremony took place at the headquarters of RECONFORT, a Lubumbashi-based NGO. Among the recipients were women living with the HIV-AIDS virus, widows, refugees as well as women from other vulnerable social groups. Tahirou…