Rape victims struggle to cope with HIV/AIDS
Published in International Herald Tribune: 30 October 2008
The article "Congo finally confronts rape epidemic" (Oct. 17) refers to the sadistic rapes in Congo committed by killers who participated in Rwanda's genocide in 1994. Their earlier victims, which they left behind when they crossed the border in 1994 to escape prosecution, are still dealing with the consequences of their actions.
Women survivors of the genocide in Rwanda, raped and infected with HIV, in many cases deliberately so, still do not have access to vital antiretroviral treatment.
This is an injustice exacerbated by the fact that treatment is available to the incarcerated perpetrators of genocide standing and awaiting trial at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.
The estimated 50,000 HIV-positive women survivors in Rwanda could receive treatment for a fraction of what has been spent thus far on the UN tribunal.
In the words of one survivor, Alice, "We hang onto life waiting for justice." I can only hope that these words jolt the UN into change.
David Russell
New York
NOTE: Read this letter as published on the International Herald Tribune website.