Sanela Diana Jenkins Clinic on Gender Violence in Eastern Congo
In the Congo, mass rape is used as a weapon of war to destroy villages. Sanela Diana Jenkins has a novel approach to try to heal villages as a whole where the women have been sexually attacked. It’s called the Restore the Villages Project.
More information on that project is here.
In addition, and in support of the Restore the Villages Project, the Sanela Diana Jenkins Human Rights Project has started a clinic on gender violence (the “Clinic”) at the UCLA School of Law. The Clinic teaches law students about the phenomenon of mass rape in Africa and its effects on victims, their families, and village social, economic, and political life. Students support the Restore the Villages Project with legal “housekeeping”. They also develop interview and survey protocols aimed at assessing effects of the interventions aimed at healing the villages. They receive training to prepare for interviewing and surveying victims, their families, and villagers in a conflict zone.
Students then travel to the Eastern Congo to observe and document various interventions, and to interview and survey villagers prior to or after an intervention. Following the field research, students will help assess data collected in the field, evaluate the effects of and suggest refinements to the interventions.
