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WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (OneWorld) - Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been called "the worst in the world," and it has only gotten worse in recent months. But amid the daily threats to their life and communities, women are organizing to support each other and demand justice and protection.

Mama Jeanne runs an orphanage, housing and caring for about 100 children, and at the same time running a project helping women subject to sexual violence. © cyclopsr (Flickr)A ceasefire signed in January raised hopes that the protracted conflict, which is believed to be the deadliest since World War II, was coming to an end. But the ceasefire never really took, and intense fighting in the second half of this year, particularly in North Kivu province in the eastern part of the country, has dashed those hopes.

The country's women have been hurt the most. Human Rights Watch says hundreds of thousands of women [pdf] have suffered sexual violence since the war began in 1996. Since January, more than 3,000 cases of sexual violence have been reported, according to the international development group ActionAid. Oxfam International says the figure is more like 1,100 per month, but everyone agrees the true numbers are much higher than anyone knows, as many women and girls are keeping their painful stories to themselves.

The International Rescue Committee has called sexual violence in the DRC "the worst in the world."

The gruesome stories [pdf] include gang rapes, and attacks on children as young as three, and the elderly. Many women are forced to "marry" their aggressors, essentially becoming their sexual slaves. Others are killed, mutilated, or tortured. Many contract HIV, are driven from their families, or end up as sex workers on the street for lack of other options to survive.

But many women of the Congo are banding together in efforts to support each other, make their stories known, and attract help from the outside world.

A coalition of 71 Congolese women's groups wrote to the UN Security Council in June: "It is difficult to imagine the number of people, men and women alike, who have died due to sexual violence....We are vulnerable in our fields, in the streets, and even in our own homes. Even our daughters as young as three years old are vulnerable when they are playing with their friends or are on the way to school. The nuclear family, the base of our society, no longer exists. Today in Congo, the woman has become an object. We are not protected. We have no justice. There is a crisis of authority and a culture of impunity."

A group called SAUTI (Voices of the Women of Congo) was set up earlier this year by ActionAid to help organize members of 25 different women's groups in the conflict-ridden town of Goma to demand protection. SAUTI issued a declaration in November condemning the atrocities against civilians and calling on the United Nations peacekeeping mission, which is the largest in the world but has nonetheless failed to quell the violence, to fulfill their mandate to protect civilians.

The group also organized hundreds of women dressed in black for a public mass in Goma's soccer stadium earlier this month. "The protest signifies the bravery and commitment of women to speak out against rape and assault," said ActionAid's country director Alpha Sankoh.

Through the Christian Relief Network (CRN), a network of women is running counseling and education sessions on sexual violence issues in more than 60 villages.

Mama Jeanne works with the group too. She is a tall woman who "embraces with warmth, smiles with her eyes, talks enthusiastically, and, in the midst of the many crises in DR Congo, has new projects in her head," explains CRN. She is currently mother to eight of her own children and 127 orphans. Now 45, she's been looking after orphaned children since she was 18, and has cared for over 1,700 over the years. She also heads a project to reach out to and assist rape victims in North Kivu province.

"Before the start of the most recent fighting I had plans to build new children's homes in a number of places in the province," Mama Jeanne told CRN. "The need is enormous."

And Justine Masika Bihamba, one of OneWorld's People of 2007 finalists, coordinates the organization Women Together Against Sexual Violence. Since 2003, her group has provided medical, psychological, legal, and economic support to thousands of women victims of violence. Workers at the organization have regularly been threatened and attacked because of their peaceful work against sexual violence, says Amnesty International. Bihamba and her family were themselves victims of attack and sexual violence last year; they are still seeking justice.

But despite all this, there are parts of the DRC that are rebuilding, demonstrating that life can begin anew once peace takes hold. In one part of South Kivu, where the situation has remained relatively calm, civilians are returning home, life is returning to normal, and the work of reconstructing lives and communities is progressing.

"We're in a post-conflict phase in a large part of the country," says Mark Emmert of the International Rescue Committee, which is helping drive the rebuilding process. "Displaced civilians and refugees are coming back to their homes."

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Brandy Shufutinsky provided additional research for this story.