Clinton: Sexual violence is “evil in its basest form”

Secretary Clinton met face to face with rape victims yesterday in Goma, an area of Congo that’s the epicenter of rape perpetrated by government troops and rebel groups. After conversing with two women who had been gang-raped, Clinton’s voice broke with emotion as she said:

The atrocities that these women have suffered, and that stand for the atrocities that so many have suffered, distill evil into its basest form. … In the face of such evil, people of goodwill everywhere must respond. … We say to the world that those who attack civilian populations with systematic rape are guilty of crimes against humanity.”

Clinton announced $17 million in U.S. aid to respond to the sexual violence. The money will go toward training doctors to treat victims, training police officers (especially female ones) to investigate rape, and providing victims with video cameras to document crimes.

In the photo above:

Father Samuel holds the hand and face of a rape victim as they pray on Aug. 11, moments after the young Congolese woman underwent surgery to repair physical damage suffered while being raped. Doctors at the Heal Africa Clinic in Goma treat women who have been sexually abused and who, in the majority of cases, develop serious physical problems due to the vicious nature of the attacks.

Photo: ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images