Dr. Mukwege denounces use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in DRC

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege denounced on Wednesday the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, the Congolese doctor described what he called a "dramatic situation" in the Congo's North Kivu region.

"We had 10,000 cases of sexual violence, with 30 to 35 percent are rapes against children. There is a trend towards unacceptable violence, but to attack children, that is going beyond any possible red lines that you could imagine," said Mukwege.

Mukwege founded the Panzi Hospital in the eastern Congo city of Bukavu, and for over 20 years has treated countless women who were raped amid fighting between armed groups seeking control of some the central African nation’s vast mineral wealth.

He was in Strasbourg to meet with members of the European Parliament and urge them to help negotiations and peace talks with rebel groups.

Mukwege shared the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize with activist Nadia Murad, who was kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery by Islamic State militants in 2014 along with an estimated 3,000 Yazidi girls and women.