The Duchess of Edinburgh has spent the last four day on a high-security visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she has been supporting survivors of war-related sexual violence
The Duchess of Edinburgh has carried out a top-secret overseas trip for a series of moving meetings with women affected by conflict-related rape.
Sophie has spent four days in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a high-security visit to “shine a light” on the “weaponisation of rape” and support those who survive horrific war-related sexual violence.
During the trip, she visited Beni, in the conflict-hit east of the African nation, and became visibly moved as she listened to a 16-year-old girl who told her she was attacked by a police officer, while another woman described being sexually assaulted while fleeing rebel-held areas.
It came as she entered a tent close to a hospital and sat barefoot with the survivors, some of whom wept as they spoke to her. The trip also saw her visit the Panzi Clinic in Kinshasa, which provides care for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, and there she watched as a five-year-old girl underwent surgery by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Denis Mukwege.
Speaking afterwards, she said: “You have to really question yourself and go ‘how can we have reached a point where rape is just accepted as a part of daily life?’
“So it’s horrible to hear their stories, but each one deserves to be told and each one deserves recognition, so I don’t make light of any of them, and I just wish we didn’t have to hear them, but it’s important that we do.”
She went on: “I think you have to allow this issue to get under your skin. And there is only one way to achieve that, you really have to go and see it for yourself.
“You have to understand the environment in which people are living and sit with these people, where they come from, don’t make them come to you, you have to go to them.
“And you have to understand where they live, the circumstances that they’re in, what has brought them to the moment that I am with them and what their futures may or may not hold, and unfortunately, what they might not hold is often the case.”
Sophie also visited women who were survivors of sexual violence during a mass escape attempt at Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa last year.
The duchess walked along a narrow path littered with rubble to get to a safehouse where the women are being cared for. She sat in a small, sweltering room with two bunkbeds and heard women speak of forced abortions, marginalisation from their own families, and the daily risks they still face.
Meanwhile, at a Danish Refugee Council-run safe space for women in Beni, which receives funding from the UK, one woman told Sophie that women are likely to be raped when they seek firewood.
Earlier, the duchess had met women peacekeepers, telling them she returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo because the conflict there requires “resolution” and that she plans to visit again.
The mineral-rich eastern part of the country has endured decades of war, displacing more than seven million people. Elsewhere on the visit, the duchess tested her survival skills, helped weave baskets and was gifted a cuddly gorilla toy.
It came as she joined a Brazilian jungle warfare training team, based there as part of the UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO, for a brief crash course.
She watched as the team demonstrated landmine detection and first aid for ambush casualties, including applying a tourniquet, before climbing into a bulletproof patrol vehicle used to reach remote villages as part of peacekeeping operations.
Her trip also included a visit to a cafe to hear about efforts to foster peace in Virunga National Park, much of it under rebel control. She heard of efforts to create local jobs through eco-tourism, provide renewable energy and support sustainable agriculture to protect the Africa’s oldest national park, which is home to mountain gorillas.
The Duchess beamed as she was showered with gifts including coffee beans, bars of chocolate, a chocolate gorilla and a cuddly gorilla toy.