Fighting the Silence

And the evidence is that sexual violence against women continues to be a blight even after the war

When Ilse and Femke van Velzen heard about the ongoing rapes, they wanted to give the women a voice through their film: Fighting the Silence

Chantal, an activist for women's rights, is the key character in the documentary

Chantal understood the problems facing women in her society at a very early age and decided to become an activist

Although women are seen as second class citizens and have less rights than men, it is their hard work that keeps the country's economy ticking

Chantal is travelling the region to help rape victims living in communities that prefer to blame them rather than prosecute the rapists

For a woman and her family, the real trauma starts after the rape

By organising workshops and seminars, Chantal tries to get the rape victims and their communities to talk about the taboo

Chantal also organises seminars for soldiers and policemen and to discuss the issue of rape from their perspective

Rebel groups and militia see rape as a weapon that destroys a woman's family and the whole community built around it

Chantal wants to find out the reasons behind the violence

Civilians too have joined soldiers and rebels in raping women

When a woman is raped, society sees the victim as a curse on her family

Husbands of rape victims not only have to deal with the trauma but also the pressure from their communities to abandon their wives

With so many militias around, most women do not even know who raped them - a Burundian, Rwandan, Congolese, a rebel, or a civilian

A new law against sexual violence has been introduced, but it has not helped stop the rapes

The corrupt legal system makes it very difficult to punish rapists

Even if rapists get jailed, the corruption enables them get freed after a few days

Chantal talks to a young man in jail about why he had raped a little girl and whether he regretted what he did, but he showed no remorse

But the women do not give up fighting after everything that has happened to them

'Fighting the Silence' looks at why rape continues to plague DR Congo despite the war having officially ended in 2003

The film tells the shocking but empowering stories of Congolese rape survivors who are trying to change their world