It’s important to break the wall of silence – Mukwege Foundation Executive Director Katrien Coppens

Awareness of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), the consequences it has for survivors and their families, and knowledge of the availability of help are essential to addressing this huge problem

The Executive Director of the Mukwege Foundation, Katrien Coppens, drew attention to this during the large-scale training event called Covering CRSV: What Journalists Need To Know, which was organized by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) together with the Mukwege Foundation. Journalists were told how to correctly and properly interview people who suffered from sexual violence during the war and how to prepare for the conversation so that past trauma does not return.

The Mukwege Foundation supports the NUJU in the matter of tolerant coverage of the problems of the CRSV, which intensified during the invasion of the russian federation in Ukraine, in order to overcome both the phenomenon itself and the accompanying problems – in particular, silence, and support people.

Katrien Coppens, who participated in the online training, emphasized that it is very important to teach the media to talk to the survivors and to bring their stories to the public without dramatization.

The executive director of the Mukwege Foundation drew attention to the fact that in the summer of 2022, the Mukwege Foundation signed an agreement with the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and began to cooperate with ministries, non-governmental organizations to strengthen both knowledge and capacity to implement holistic assistance based on a model focused on survivors of CRSV in Ukraine.

There are quite a lot of components in this work. Among the key areas of cooperation, along with the provision of technical assistance, the Mukwege Foundation supports the strengthening of knowledge and opportunities for the provision of quality medical care to survivors of CRSV in Ukraine, and other aspects of the issue.

“We supported the project of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, as it is important. What the NUJU and Mukwege Foundation have in common is that we strongly believe that to solve any problem, you must first know it. So, breaking the silence around conflict-related sexual violence is key to finding solutions. It is very important that survivors are not only seen as survivors but consulted to find the best possible course of action to resolve the problem.”

Katrien Coppens emphasized the importance of the fact that human rights defender / citizen journalist / communications director of SEMA Ukraine NGO, Liudmyla Huseinova, also participated in the development and implementation of the project and thanked this brave and caring woman.

“SEMA Ukraine is an NGO led and consisting of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. SEMA Ukraine is inspired by the global survivor movement, currently having members from 26 countries called SEMA. And SEMA means “speaking out” in Swahili. The breaking of silence is very important for those who have survived the violence. And journalists play a key role in this. That’s why it’s important to address the issue. It’s important to bring the conversation between journalists and non-governmental organizations in order to teach journalists how to talk to people who have survived the violence with respect and without being traumatized. But when the media refrains from reporting on such matters, it also signals that the issue is not a problem. So, leaving survivors with the impression that they must continue to suffer in silence, with no hope of assistance, and therefore, it’s so important that the media, the journalists, take their role as a catalyst for change in raising awareness about this issue. Shedding light on the true scale and advocating for survivors to achieve the assistance they deserve,” said Katrien Coppens.

NUJU Information Service