The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the worst place in the world for females to live: "Statistics reveal that an average of 40 women are raped every day in just two provinces. Of these, 13 per cent are under 14 years of age, 3 per cent die as a result of rape and 10-12 per cent contract HIV and AIDS"(http://www.worldvision.ca/Education-and-Justice/Policy-and-Analysis/Pages/Rape-in-the-Congo.aspx). In a recently released report, UN officials found that the number of Congolese women raped New Years eve in an organized attack is exponentially larger then previously thought. One of the senior army commanders who coordinated the attack has been arrested, 10 other soldiers are in detention. 200,000 women are reported to have been raped in the Congo over the past 12 years of conflict. Those committing the attacks are not just Congolese, but members of the Rwandan Hutu militia have also previously been arrested. It is for this reason that extreme measures must be taken to end the conflict in the Congo. As I have written before, conflict minerals, such as coltan, fuel and fund this conflict and many others across Africa (Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi), and for that reason alone it may be time to pay more for our electronics, so minerals can be monitored and measures can be put in place to ensure they are arriving from a legitimate source.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/un-finds-many-more-congolese-new-year-rape-victims/
http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/content/why/why-congo
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