Kinshasa, 28 September 2010 - Margot Wallstrom is in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a working visit from 28 September to 6 October 2010. This is a follow up to her previous mission to the country in April 2010; and also, in conformity with the demand of the UN Secretary-General, to coordinate the United Nations System's response after the mass rapes that took place from late July to early August in North Kivu.

The Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict zones will travel to the Kivus in particular, where she will conduct evaluation of this issue following up since her last trip in April 2010. In that context, Ms Wallstrom will hold a series of consultations with UN agencies and Congolese authorities; national and provincial, to accelerate implementation of the Comprehensive Strategy on combating sexual violence. She plans to meet the civil society and the sexual violence victims themselves.

Earlier, speaking at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 27 September, and referring to the mass rapes incidents committed in July and August 2010 by rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the Mai-Mai militia in Walikale territory, Ms Wallstrom noted: "the FDLR has once again been responsible for grave human rights violations in the DRC. Accountability must begin with the commanders of these and other groups (...) for failing in preventing violence."

Ms. Wallstrom therefore urged governments (Congolese and members of the international community) to mobilize themselves to prosecute perpetrators "before the issue gets older and media attention fades." She said that her mission was then to "encourage the authorities to fight against impunity" and so to avoid "this international crime of abandoning women in shame and setting perpetrators free."

Meanwhile, a panel of experts from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is currently in the DRC discussing issues concerning rehabilitation of the victims of sexual violence.