On Sunday, the new Nobel Peace Prize winners are calling for justice for the victims of sexual violence in conflicts worldwide a day before they will receive their award for their efforts to stop rape as a weapon of war.
Denis Mukwege, a doctor from Congo who is helping victims of sexual violence, and Nadia Murad, a Yazidi rights activist and survivor of sexual slavery by the Islamic State, will both receive the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize on Monday.
Mukwege is the head of Panzi Hospital, located in the city of Bukavu in Congo. The clinic receives thousands of women every year, with most of them needing treatment from sexual violence.
Murad, on the other hand, is supporting the Yazidi minority in Iraq and also advocates refugee and women's rights. She was enslaved and raped by the Islamic State fighters in Mosul in 2014.
She had also campaigned for a UN investigative team to collect and record evidences of acts by the Islamic State in Iraq that would support the case against the group. A team was established in August after it was approved last year by the UN Security Council.
During the news conference at the Norwegian Nobel Institute on Sunday, Murad said that not a single person in Iraq had yet faced justice for raping Yazidi women and girls. She also cited that 3,000 Yazidi women and girls are still in sexual captivity and have yet to be saved.
However, she also expressed her hope that justice will be given to these women as their campaign is now assisting in the efforts to achieve justice.
Mukwege, meanwhile, said that justice has to be included in any peace process. Mukwege lives in the grounds of Panzi Hospital and regularly receives death threats for his work with victims.
The Second Congo War ended in 2003, but violence remains as a huge problem for the country as militias are still active and target civilians.
"There is humanitarian law. We call on it to be applied in an impartial way. After the war ended, we have seen war lords reach the top of the state and there was no discussion of justice and violence has continued," he said at the news conference.
He said that with the Nobel Peace prize, it would now shed light to the issues in Congo and help bring justice.
"It will help the international community take its responsibilities when it comes to the victims of sexual violence," he said.
Mukwege also said he was concerned with the incoming elections scheduled on December 23 because it may trigger the resumption of violence, especially if they are not done in a transparent manner.
