By Magda Cristina Butucea
Dr. Denis Mukwege is a Congolese gynecologist who in 2018 won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to highlight and eliminate the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Known as 'Dr. Miracle', he has treated tens of thousands of women, victims of sexual violence, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for most of his adult life.
In 1999 he founded the Panzi Hospital, which supports survivors of sexual assault. Actually, the hospital's original mission was to curb maternal mortality rates. "But our first patient did not come to deliver a baby," he said in a 2016 speech. "She had been raped with extreme violence." The hospital soon became a refuge for tens of thousands of victims of sexual violence. Panzi Hospital provided psychological support, legal assistance, and medical facilities. After so many years of work, Dr. Mukwege become the world’s leading expert on treating the wounds of sexual violence.
Dr. Denis Mukwege practices medicine in eastern Congo, which has been called the UN officials the "rape capital of the world". According to experts, nearly 50 women are raped there every hour. This is a huge number compared with other parts of the world. His campaigns to end the use of “rape as a weapon of war,” and years of medical services for victims attracted the attention of the United Nations and human rights organizations across the world, and he became a prominent human rights activist. He advocates for a change in international policy to make rape as a weapon of war a crime against humanity.
He has received several honorary doctorate degrees from prestigious universities in Sweden, Belgium, the US, Scotland and France. He has also received 28 international awards including the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize with Nadia Murad for his “efforts to end the use of sexual violence as weapon of war and armed conflict”.