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The Documentary: An Unspeakable Act

The Documentary: An Unspeakable Act: Episode 1

Episode 1

An Unspeakable Act

BBC World Service - The Documentary, An Unspeakable Act, Episode 1

Will Storr hears the unforgettable personal testimonies of rape victims and their families

Will Storr travels to DR Congo to meet the women who have suffered sexual violence and also meets a teen rapist.

In this powerful documentary, Will Storr examines a taboo that still reigns even in the most diabolical of conflicts.

Despite existing mostly in the realm of rumour and secret, many contemporary academics believe that sexual violence is a facet of all wars. 

Today, rape is one of the widespread problems that faces the women of the Great Lakes region of East Africa. 

In the first part of this searing examination of the issue, award-winning writer and Guardian journalist Will Storr travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo to meet the women who are menaced daily by the escaped genocidaires from neighbouring Rwanda - who haunt the forested borderlands - and by their own army. 

In the beautiful and savagely violent Lake Kivu region - the so called 'rape capital of the world' - Will bears witness to their unforgettable personal testimonies and learns about the effects it has on victims and their families.  

He also questions an unapologetic teenage rapist, as well as members of the army who are supposedly responsible for preventing such atrocities.

(Image: Thirty-five year old Mapendo M'Kata of the South Kivu region of the DRC, was three months pregnant when she was raped by three soldiers. She lost her baby and was abandoned by her husband. She has four children to look after. Image taken by Will Storr. Copyright: Christian Aid)

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Will Storr investigates the impact of rape as a weapon of war in DR Congo.

Will Storr investigates the impact that rape as a weapon of war has on its survivors in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Will Storr investigates the impact that rape as a weapon of war has on its survivors in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

(Image: A rape victim rests her hands on her bedsheets at a hospital. Credit: ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images)

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