Since the 1990s, eastern DRC has been the setting of alarming rates of sexual violence, the playground of diverse armed actors, and the vault for lucrative minerals. While the international community and Congolese civil society presupposed triangular linkages, criticisms casts doubts on its existence and their interrelations.

This report has two aims. First, it analyzes the articulation of the relationship between the three elements in the Kivus. Second, it examines the international community’s framing of this relationship and its consequences on initiatives and policies.