Denis Mukwege (/mʊkˈweɪɡi/;[1] born 1 March 1955)[2][3] is a Congolese gynecologist and Pentecostal pastor. He founded and works in Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he specializes in the treatment of women who have been raped by armed rebels.
In 2018, Mukwege and Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict".
Mukwege has treated thousands of women who were victims of rape since the Second Congo War, some of them more than once, performing up to ten operations a day during his 17-hour working days.[4] According to The Globe and Mail, Mukwege is "likely the world's leading expert on repairing injuries of rape".[6] In 2003, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "his courageous work healing women survivors of war-time sexual violence and speaking up about its root causes."
Early life and education
Mukwege is the third of nine children born to a Pentecostal minister and his wife. He almost died at birth due to an infection but was saved by the Swedish Pentecostal missionary and midwife Majken Bergman.[7] He studied medicine because he wanted to heal the sick people for whom his father prayed, after seeing the complications of childbirth experienced by women in the Congo who had no access to specialist healthcare.[6]
After graduating with a medical degree from the University of Burundi in 1983, Mukwege worked as a pediatrician in the rural Lemera Hospital near Bukavu.[8][9] However, after seeing women patients who due to the absence of proper care often suffered pain, genital lesions, and obstetric fistula after giving birth, he studied gynaecology and obstetrics at the University of Angers, France, obtaining his master's and completing his medical residency in 1989.[8][9][10] His education was mainly financed by the Swedish Pentecostal mission.[11][12]
On 24 September 2015, he earned a PhD from Université libre de Bruxelles for his thesis on traumatic fistulas in the Eastern Region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[13]
Career
After returning from studying in Belgium, Mukwege continued working in the Lemera Hospital. After the First Congo War began, he returned to Bukavu due to violent incidents, and founded the Panzi Hospital in 1999.[10] Its construction was mainly financed by Swedish Christian aid organizations and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. It has continued to enjoy support from the Swedish Pentecostal Mission's development cooperation organization PMU.[14]
Since its foundation, Panzi Hospital has treated more than 82,000 patients with complex gynecological damage and trauma, an estimated 60 percent of injuries has been caused by sexual violence. Most of the patients of that time were coming from conflict zones. Mukwege has described how his patients arrived at the hospital sometimes naked, usually in horrific condition.[6] When he observed that genital damaging was being used as a weapon of war in the conflict of the late 1990s between different armed groups, Mukwege devoted himself to reconstructive surgery to help female victims of sexual violence.[10] The German Institute for Medical Mission (DIFAEM) has been supporting Mukwege's work with funds and medicines.[15]
United Nations speech
See also: Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Wartime sexual violence
In September 2012, Mukwege gave a speech at the United Nations where he condemned the mass rape occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,[16] and criticized the Congolese government and other countries "for not doing enough to stop what he called 'an unjust war that has used violence against women and rape as a strategy of war'".[17]
Assassination attempt and return
Mukwege in his office in Panzi in 2013.
On 25 October 2012, four armed men attacked his residence while he was not home, held his daughters hostage, and waited for his return to assassinate him. Upon his return, his guard intervened and was shot dead by the assassins. They missed Mukwege as he dropped to the ground during the shooting.[18] After the assassination attempt, Mukwege went into exile in Europe and the Panzi Hospital reported that his absence has had a "devastating effect" on its daily operations.[19]
He returned to Bukavu on 14 January 2013, where the population received him with a warm welcome over the 20 miles from Kavumu Airport to the city, especially from his patients, who had raised funds to pay for his return ticket by selling pineapples and onions.[20]
Other activities
Mukwege with Lord Ahmad at the PSVI Film Festival in London in 2018.
At 13 years of age, Mukwege took the decision to follow in his father's footsteps and become a Pentecostal minister, which was a transformative experience for him. He later said: "I started to speak in tongues. My whole being was filled with heat and a certainty that I was not alone. The experience was so overwhelming that I knew my life was forever changed by that moment."[21] Apart from working as a doctor, he partly ministers in a Pentecostal church in Bukavu with 700 members.[22] Mukwege has repeatedly named his faith in Jesus Christ as a primary motivation for his work at Panzi.[23]
The Panzi Hospital is being run by the Congolese Pentecostal movement CEPAC and has been continuously supported by the Swedish Pentecostal movement. In 2015, Mukwege was invited to speak at Nyhemsveckan, the annual Pentecostal conference in central Sweden. He then said:
From this place, people have been praying for my beloved country and tonight it is a privilege for me to stand here as a fruit of your prayers. My congregation belongs to the Congolese Pentecostal Movement Cepac, and with about one million members it is a fruit of your prayers. The Panzi hospital is a fruit of your prayers. The church must be based on prayer. The Bible tells us to be thankful and thus, I want to be a representative for all those who received the blessings from your efforts in my country and elsewhere, saying thank you from the bottom of my heart.[14]
Board membership
The Uncondemned, Member of the Board of Advisors[24]
Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL), Member of the Global Advisory Board[25]
Recognition
Awards
UN Human Rights prize (New York, December 2008)[26]
Olof Palme Prize (Sweden, 2008)[27]
African of the Year (Nigeria, January 2009), awarded by Daily Trust[27]
Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government (Kinshasa, November 2009) by French Ambassador Pierre Jacquemot.[28]
Van Heuven Goedhart-Award (June 2010) from the Netherlands Refugee Foundation (Stichting Vluchteling)
The Wallenberg Medal (University of Michigan, October 2010)
The King Baudouin International Development Prize (Brussels, 24 May 2011)[29] by the King of Belgium Albert II.
Clinton Global Citizen Award for Leadership in Civil Society (New York, September 2011)[30] by President Bill Clinton.
The 2011 Deutscher Medienpreis (German Media Award) (Baden Baden, Germany, February 2012)[31]
Officier de la Légion d'Honneur Française (Panzi, July 2013) brought to Bukavu by the First Lady of France Valérie Trierweiler and the Minister of Francophonie Yamina Benguigui.[12][32]
Civil Courage Prize (October 2013)[33]
Human Rights First Award (August 2013)[34]
Right Livelihood Award (September 2013)[35]
"Prize for Conflict Prevention" by the Fondation Chirac (Paris, October 2013)[3] honored by the presence of 2 French presidents Jacques Chirac and François Hollande
The Hillary Clinton Award (Washington, DC, February 2014) at Georgetown University for Advancing Women in Peace and Security[36] along with the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs William Hague
The Inamori Ethics Prize from the Case Western Reserve University Inamori Center for Ethics and Excellence (October 2014)[37]
Solidarity Prize received from Médecins du Monde and the Saint-Pierre University Hospital (Brussels, October 2014)[38]
Mukwege at the Sakharov Prize presentation in Strasbourg in 2014.
The Sakharov Prize for the Freedom of Thought, received from the European Parliament (Strasbourg, November 2014)[2][39]
Gulbenkian Prize (Lisbon, July 2015)[40]
Women for Women International "Champion for Peace Award" (New York, November 2015)[41]
Prix Héros pour l'Afrique (Hero for Africa) (Brussels, January 2016)[42]
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women's Health (Philadelphia, March 2016)
Fortune Magazine 35th World Greatest Leader of 2016 (March 2016)[43][44]
Four Freedoms Award Laureate for the Freedom From Want, by the Roosevelt Institute in New York and Franklin D. Roosevelt Stichting (Middelburg, Netherlands, April 2016)
Scandinavian Human Dignity Award Laureate, by the Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers & Committee (Stockholm, October 2016)
Seoul Peace Prize (Seoul, Korea, October 2016)[46]
Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People (2016)[4]
Nobel Peace Prize, with Nadia Murad (October 2018)[47]
Honorary degrees
Honorary Doctorate by the faculty of medicine at Umeå University (Sweden, June 2010)[48]
Honorary degree from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain, Belgium, February 2014)[49] along with Lawrence Lessig and Jigme Thinley
Harvard University Honorary degree as Doctor of Science (Boston, May 2015)[50]
University of Edinburgh Honorary Degree of Doctor of Medicine (Scotland, December 2017)[51]
University of Angers (French: Université d'Angers) Honorary Degree of Doctor of Medicine (Angers, France, January 2018)[52][page needed]
Honorary degree from University of Liège Honorary Degree Doctor Honoris Causa (Liège, Belgium, September 2018)[53]
Honorary degree from Pennsylvania State University (Philadelphia, United States, Mai 2019) [54]
Honorary degree from New University of Lisbon (Lisbon, Portugal, Mai 2019)[55]
Honorary degree from Université de Montréal (Montréal, Canada, June 2019
