Dubbed the "rape capital" of the world by Margot Walhstrom, UN Special Representative on Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones, Eastern DRC is seen as the epicenter of sexual violence. A study, jointly put together by Oxfam, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, looks at more than 4,000 rape cases and provides exact data on when and where rapes occur and who the victims and perpetrators are. To find out more, IRIN Radio's Louise Tunbridge spoke to Susan Bartels, physician and lead researcher on the study, to find out what was most striking about her findings.

BARTELS: I think there were two things that were most shocking. The first of those were that so many women were actually attacked in their own homes, in the supposed safety of their own homes. We had 57% of women who reported this. And often those attacks on individual homes occurred at night when the women were sleeping with their spouses and their children. And that was very shocking to me because I think we have a sense that one's own home is a safe place somewhere you can sleep and be comfortable. The second thing that was very surprising to me was the dramatic increase in the number of rapes that were perpetrated by civilians. In 2004, civilian perpetrated attacks accounted for less than 1% versus 38% in 2008 and this trend suggests an acceptance of sexual violence by the Congolese society- sort of normalization- and that was very surprising.

TUNBRIDGE: You've said in your report the findings on rape show why the peacekeeping force MONUC still has a vital role to play at a time when there is talk of them leaving the country. But if rape goes so deep in society, why do you think peacekeepers can do anything?

BARTELS: Yes, I agree completely. I think the UN peacekeeping forces will be essential in helping to stop the rapes that are perpetrated by armed combats. Because even if there was a dramatic increase in the number of attacks perpetrated by civilians, even in 2008, the majority of attacks were still reportedly by armed combatants. So, I think by keeping the UN peacekeeping forces in place, they can play a crucial role in protecting civilians from attacks that would be committed by armed combatants. To address the second of the civilian perpetrated attacks, I think that there needs to be a lot of work to start bringing perpetrators to prosecution. And although DRC has fairly robust laws on sexual violence, at this time very poorly enforced and I think to help ease this sexual violence within civilian communities we need to really look at the security reform and enforce a zero tolerance policy.

TUNBRIDGE: There have been a lot of reports of rape in DRC, so do you feel these stories can get the issues through in a way that it is going to be felt and noticed.

BARTELS: You might expect that after reading so many stories and spending so much time just listening to the brutality of such attacks you just might become immune to it. And I can certainly say that that was not the case. That each and every story remained so unique and was so powerful, and despite thousands of stories, I could still find myself chilled just reading the story of an individual woman and what she had experienced.

TUNBRIDGE: And what do you feel your report can achieve? Can it make a difference?

BARTELS: I think the strength of our report is that it is a large database, with over 4300 women involved. I think that Panzi hospital located in Bukavu is at the heart of the conflict area so it's very well situated to be helping many of the women who are directly affected by the sexual violence. And I also think, because Panzi hospital is located there and continues to operate, it has the advantage of being able to collect information over a longer period of time, as opposed to a study group who goes in and collects information perhaps over several months. And I think that having the ability to collect that information over time is what allowed us to look at the trends throughout the 5 years and really to understand how the sexual violence is seeping into civilian life. You know, our role as researchers is to provide information that helps us understand what is happening within the sexual violence epidemic and to provide basically the data that shows the suffering and that point to perhaps measures that would be helpful in relieving the suffering.

PRES: Susan Bartels of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative speaking to IRIN Radio's Louise Tunbridge.

(duration: 2'39")