He fights against sexual violence. He has won a Nobel Prize and now a $1 million award. Is he hopeful?

In 2018, Dr. Denis Mukwege received the Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless work against sexual violence. Last night he won the $1 million Aurora Prize for the Advancement of Humanity.

These honors recognize the almost 25 years of service of Dr. Denis Mukwege for the cause. In 1999, he founded a hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo to treat survivors of sexual assault and rape in the ongoing conflict there. Mukwege and his staff at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu have treated more than 80,000 women and girls, providing mental health support and helping to overcome the stigmatization of rape survivors.

As he accepted the Aurora Prize on Thursday — and the $1 million grant to support his cause — Mukwege paid tribute to people around the world working to end sexual violence, as well as survivors.

“These women get back up after facing extreme violence and not only regain their own strength, but also extend a helping hand to others in need. I remember a patient whose case deeply affected our staff. After treatment, she completed training. “She said she was doing it because she wanted to help others like her,” Mukwege said.

In an interview with NPR, Mukwege said that despite recognition for his work, he hasn’t seen a decline in the number of women and young girls needing help. In 2023, Médecins Sans Frontières reported an “extremely high rate of sexual violence” in the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying there were 48 new victims every day.

Mukwege expressed disappointment that the world has forgotten what is happening in his homeland and called on the international community to pay more attention to sexual violence in conflicts around the world and the lasting impact it has on communities give.

“We have a responsibility to end the use of rape as a weapon of war,” said Dr. Mukwege told NPR. “We can see that the way sexual violence destroys communities destroys people. We really need to find an international way to end sexual violence in conflict, to end this heinous act (of) destroying women, destroying children.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

After winning the Nobel Peace Prize, you expressed your hope that it would raise awareness of the issue of sexual violence and inform more people about the events in Congo. Do you feel like that happened?

Not at all. I am so sorry to say that the Congo crisis is the number one neglected crisis in the world. And that’s sad, because 30 women in Congo are now suffering. And at Panzi Hospital we are now treating the same number of victims 25 years later. That’s why I find it really sad to see that after 25 years nothing is being done to stop sexual violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In the 25 years since you opened Panzi Hospital, have there been any changes that have affected your work on behalf of victims of sexual violence?

When we started Panzi Hospital, it wasn’t actually open to victims of sexual violence. We opened the hospital to support women because in our region maternal mortality is very, very high. So my idea was how can we combat maternal mortality? Then we opened the hospital. But unfortunately, the first case we treated in the hospital was because she was raped with extreme violence. And I had never seen anything like it. I had been in the region for 15 years, but it was the first time for me that a woman had been raped in this way.

Then all the women who came to the hospital were surprised that they came with the same story. But most of them were really ashamed to talk about what had happened to them. And that was a big problem for us at the beginning. It was really a challenge for us to get women to be open and tell their stories.

Now, 25 years later, we can see great progress. Women now have the opportunity to speak out about this issue and fight for their rights. You can even support each other. We are able to treat them medically. We have psychological support capacity and can help them reintegrate into their community by teaching them new skills or supporting them financially.

But the big problem we face is justice. And justice cannot be guaranteed by the hospital, cannot be guaranteed by civil society. Only the state can ensure justice. And impunity is a big problem that we have been facing for 25 years. And I have the impression that if the conflict or alleged sexual violence continues in the region, it will be because of the lack of justice, because impunity gives the perpetrators the impression that they can rape without consequences for them.

As I look at the current and recent wars where sexual violence has occurred, I wonder if you were able to take anything away?

I think that with regard to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, before October 7th, we could say that sexual violence was not a big part of that conflict. But after October 7th that is no longer true.

And now it has become what we know in all conflicts in Africa, in Europe, in Kosovo, in Ukraine, in America, in Colombia and elsewhere. Rape happens and we need to protect women. That is the most important thing for me. It cannot be politicized. We know that women suffer in conflict everywhere. Whether Israeli or Palestinian, I think it happens everywhere. And we need to be really proactive to protect women in conflict.

After more than two decades of activism against sexual violence, what are some of the most important lessons you have learned?

I think we really need to learn more about sexual violence. I feel like we mostly think of this question as a victim question, but it affects everyone. And we really should learn more about the consequences of rape on victims, but also on communities and society, and how rape destroys social cohesion, how it can destroy the fabric of society and understand the suffering of victims.

And I think if we can learn more about the effects of rape on victims, I think it can be easier to not only develop empathy, but also to take action against it. We call on governments to address this and make it clear that this should not happen in any conflict anywhere in the world.

But it is very difficult to make leaders understand that sexual violence destroys not only victims but also communities and society. That’s why I think we really need to try to learn more about the consequences so that we can act and know that this can affect all of us.

Where do you get the hope of continuing the work despite the many challenges?

I really want to invite you to come to Congo and talk to the Congolese women. I admire her. And I think they fight so hard not only for their rights, but also for the rights of their children, even though they are suffering a lot. But they still have hope. So when I see all these women who are victims of terrible things still hoping and believing in the future, I just feel like what I can do is very, very small. I am so impressed by this strength and have even more reason to keep doing what I do.

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