The Duchess of Edinburgh has said the issue of sexual violence must be allowed to “get under your skin” as she met women affected by conflict-related rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Sophie spent four days in the country during a secret high-security trip to “shine a light” on the “weaponisation of rape” and recognise the work being done to support those who survive horrific war-related sexual violence.
She visited Beni, in the conflict-hit east of the country, on Monday and was visibly moved as a 16-year-old girl recounted being attacked by a police officer, while another woman described being sexually assaulted while fleeing rebel-held areas.
The duchess has two children, Lady Louise Windsor, 21, and 17-year-old James, the Earl of Wessex, with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh.
She entered a tent close to a hospital and sat barefoot with the survivors, some of whom wept as they spoke.
During a visit on Wednesday to the Panzi Clinic in Kinshasa, which provides care to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, she watched as a five-year-old girl underwent surgery by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Denis Mukwege.
She was joined by Alyson King, the UK ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The duchess told reporters afterwards: “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 then 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.
Mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has endured decades of war, displacing more than seven million people.
Earlier this year, M23 rebel group, said to be backed by Rwanda, seized the cities of Goma and Bukavu in a major escalation of the conflict.
Other rebel groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which is linked to the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, have carried out deadly attacks in the region.
Sophie, 60, flew into Beni on a flight from Entebbe in Uganda on Monday morning, travelling with a security team throughout the trip.
Upon landing she said it was an “honour” to return to the Democratic Republic of Congo, having previously visited in 2022, though she added: “I wish it was in happier times.”
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.
Another woman, aged 24, said she made a three-day 40km journey to Beni with a baby and her family members after ADF members set houses on fire.
She told the PA news agency via a Swahili translator that the safe space helped her recover from the mental health issues she suffered as a result of the conflict.
One woman told of travelling from near Goma through rural areas to Beni amid M23 shelling in June, while another said she worried that Beni could be next taken by militant groups.
Earlier, the duchess had met women peacekeepers, telling them she returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo because the conflict requires “resolution” and that she plans to visit again.
One woman was heard passionately saying that the UK was complicit in what was happening for not being tough enough on the Democratic Republic of Congo’s neighbour Rwanda.
Sophie later told the woman that she was doing all she can to shine a light on what was happening in the conflict.
Dr Mukwege said he was “touched” by the duchess’s visit, adding that her presence sent a message to survivors: “You are human”.
The duchess is a champion of the UN’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS) and a supporter of the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI).
On Thursday, the duchess visited Kintambo General Hospital, which provides physical, mental and legal support and economic opportunities to survivors.
As she met survivors alongside DRC prime minister Judith Suminwa, one doctor told reporters that some of those at the facility are children and that she has seen cases where babies have been sexually abused.
A survivor said she and her daughter were raped by armed robbers, causing her marriage to break down and her husband to take her daughter away.
She now sells waffles as part of the economic activities provided, saying the hospital has been a “game changer”.
One mother told of how her 12-year-old daughter was raped after she left the house and now sells vegetables at markets to send her child to school.
One survivor, 22, handed the duchess a Union flag made from red, white and blue beads, which she had spent five hours making.
Sophie later met DRC president Felix Tshisekedi at his office where they exchanged pleasantries in French.
