Denis Mukwege

Denis Mukwege (/mʊkˈweɪɡi/;[1] born 1 March 1955)[2][3] is a Congolese gynecologist and Pentecostal pastor. He founded and works in Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he specializes in the treatment of women who have been raped by armed rebels.[4]

Denis Mukwege
Mukwege in 2014
Born (1955-03-01) 1 March 1955
Bukavu, Belgian Congo
EducationUniversity of Burundi (MD)
University of Angers (MA)
Université libre de Bruxelles (PhD)
Years active1983–present
AwardsNobel Peace Prize
Human Rights First
Civil Courage Prize
Wallenberg Medal
Right Livelihood Award
Four Freedoms Award
Time 100
Sakharov Prize
Seoul Peace Prize
UN Prize in Human Rights
Olof Palme Prize
Gulbenkian Prize
Legion of Honour

In 2018, Mukwege and Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict".[5]

Mukwege has treated thousands of women who were victims of rape since the Second Congo War, some of them more than once, performing up to ten operations a day during his 17-hour working days.[4] According to The Globe and Mail, Mukwege is "likely the world's leading expert on repairing injuries of rape".[6] In 2013, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "his courageous work healing women survivors of war-time sexual violence and speaking up about its root causes."[7]

Early life and education

Mukwege is the third of nine children born to a Pentecostal minister and his wife. He almost died at birth due to an infection but was saved by the Swedish Pentecostal missionary and midwife Majken Bergman.[8] He studied medicine because he wanted to heal the sick people for whom his father prayed, after seeing the complications of childbirth experienced by women in the Congo who had no access to specialist healthcare.[6]

After graduating with a medical degree from the University of Burundi in 1983, Mukwege worked as a pediatrician in the rural Lemera Hospital near Bukavu.[9][10] However, after seeing women patients who due to the absence of proper care often suffered pain, genital lesions, and obstetric fistula after giving birth, he studied gynaecology and obstetrics at the University of Angers, France, obtaining his master's and completing his medical residency in 1989.[9][10][11] His education was mainly financed by the Swedish Pentecostal mission.[12][13]

On 24 September 2015, he earned a PhD from Université libre de Bruxelles for his thesis on traumatic fistulas in the Eastern Region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[14]

Career

After returning from studying in Belgium, Mukwege continued working in the Lemera Hospital. After the First Congo War began, he returned to Bukavu due to violent incidents, and founded the Panzi Hospital in 1999.[11] Its construction was mainly financed by Swedish Christian aid organizations and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. It has continued to enjoy support from the Swedish Pentecostal Mission's development cooperation organization PMU.[15]

Since its foundation, Panzi Hospital has treated more than 82,000 patients with complex gynecological damage and trauma, an estimated 60 percent of injuries has been caused by sexual violence. Most of the patients of that time were coming from conflict zones. Mukwege has described how his patients arrived at the hospital sometimes naked, usually in horrific condition.[6] When he observed that genital damaging was being used as a weapon of war in the conflict of the late 1990s between different armed groups, Mukwege devoted himself to reconstructive surgery to help female victims of sexual violence.[11] The German Institute for Medical Mission (DIFAEM) has been supporting Mukwege's work with funds and medicines.[16]

In 2008, the non-profit Panzi Foundation DRC was created in order to support the work of Panzi Hospital with "legal assistance, psycho-social support and socio-economic programmes." A Panzi Foundation USA was later founded to promote fundraising in the United States of America, and encourage investment in the Panzi Hospital and Foundations. In 2016 the Mukwege Foundation was created, to promote the aims of the Panzi Hospital and Foundations worldwide and "advocate for an end to wartime sexual violence everywhere."[17]

United Nations speech
See also: Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Wartime sexual violence

In September 2012, Mukwege gave a speech at the United Nations where he condemned the mass rape occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,[18] and criticized the Congolese government and other countries "for not doing enough to stop what he called 'an unjust war that has used violence against women and rape as a strategy of war'".[19]

Assassination attempt and return
Mukwege in his office in Panzi in 2013.

On 25 October 2012, four armed men attacked his residence while he was not home, held his daughters hostage, and waited for his return to assassinate him. Upon his return, his guard intervened and was shot dead by the assassins. They missed Mukwege as he dropped to the ground during the shooting.[20] After the assassination attempt, Mukwege went into exile in Europe and the Panzi Hospital reported that his absence has had a "devastating effect" on its daily operations.[21]

He returned to Bukavu on 14 January 2013, where the population received him with a warm welcome over the 20 miles from Kavumu Airport to the city, especially from his patients, who had raised funds to pay for his return ticket by selling pineapples and onions.[22]

Other activities
Mukwege with Lord Ahmad at the PSVI Film Festival in London in 2018.

At 13 years of age, Mukwege took the decision to follow in his father's footsteps and become a Pentecostal minister, which was a transformative experience for him. He later said: "I started to speak in tongues. My whole being was filled with heat and a certainty that I was not alone. The experience was so overwhelming that I knew my life was forever changed by that moment."[23] Apart from working as a doctor, he partly ministers in a Pentecostal church in Bukavu with 700 members.[24] Mukwege has repeatedly named his faith in Jesus Christ as a primary motivation for his work at Panzi.[25]

The Panzi Hospital is being run by the Congolese Pentecostal movement CEPAC and has been continuously supported by the Swedish Pentecostal movement. In 2015, Mukwege was invited to speak at Nyhemsveckan, the annual Pentecostal conference in central Sweden. He then said:

From this place, people have been praying for my beloved country and tonight it is a privilege for me to stand here as a fruit of your prayers. My congregation belongs to the Congolese Pentecostal Movement Cepac, and with about one million members it is a fruit of your prayers. The Panzi hospital is a fruit of your prayers. The church must be based on prayer. The Bible tells us to be thankful and thus, I want to be a representative for all those who received the blessings from your efforts in my country and elsewhere, saying thank you from the bottom of my heart.[15]

Board membership
  • The Uncondemned, Member of the Board of Advisors[26]
  • Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL), Member of the Global Advisory Board[27]
  • Panzi Foundation, President, Co-Founder, Chief Medical Officer.[28]
  • Mukwege Foundation, Special Advisor on the board.[29]

Recognition

Awards
Mukwege at the Sakharov Prize presentation in Strasbourg in 2014.

Honorary degrees

Publications
  • (in French) Colette Braeckman: L'homme qui répare les femmes. Violences sexuelles au Congo. Le combat du docteur Mukwege. Bruxelles, André Versaille, 2012. ISBN 978-2-87495194-7.
  • Denis Mukwege: "Dr. Mukwege Fights Back", The New York Times, 2 November 2012.
  • (in French) Denis Mukwege, Guy-Bernard Cadière: Panzi. Editions Du Moment, 2014. ISBN 978-2354172817, 2354172818
  • (in French) Denis Mukwege: Plaidoyer pour la vie. Editions Archipel, 2016. ISBN 978-2-80982053-9.
  • (in French) Denis Mukwege, Guy-Bernard Cadière, Julien Oeuillet: Réparer les femmes: Un combat contre la barbarie. Mardaga, 2019. ISBN 978-2804707309, 280470730X

Documentary films
gollark: If you die before heavserver joining you WILL be resurrected.
gollark: Don't bother them too much, it's inevitable anyway.
gollark: The standard limit is 0.02 microhitlers.
gollark: We'll just quarantine them (more than the bots) if they exceed awfulness quotas.
gollark: Even if it wasn't inevitable it would inevitably become inevitable.

References
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  3. "Denis Mukwege, Laureate of the 2013 Prize for conflict prevention". Fondation Chirac. 10 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  4. "Doctor and Advocate: One Surgeon's Global Fight for the Rights of Rape Survivors". Pacific Standard. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  5. "Announcement" (PDF). The Nobel Peace Prize.
  6. Nolen, Stephanie. "Where repairing rape damage is an expertise", The Globe and Mail, 22 October 2008.
  7. "Denis Mukwege". The Right Livelihood Award. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  8. ""Inget pris i världen förändrar Mukwege"" (in Swedish). Dagen. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  9. "Denis Mukwege". UA Talents (in French). Université d’Angers. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
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  12. "Panzi Hospital". UPanzi Foundation. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  13. Mukwege, Denis (4 May 2014). "A glimpse of hope in the heart of Africa: towards the full implementation of the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement". Peacebuilding. 2 (2): 221–223. doi:10.1080/21647259.2014.910385.
  14. Mukwege, Denis (24 September 2015). "Etiologie, classification et traitement des fistules traumatiques uro-génitales et génito-digestives basses dans l'est de la RDC" (in French). Université libre de Bruxelles.
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