Rainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko, is a legally constituted community organization in the DRC dedicated to contributing to the relentless struggle against human rights violations. Its mission is to advocate for the promotion of social justice, human rights education, and the building of a just, tolerant, egalitarian, inclusive, and safe society for the LGBTIQ+ community.
The organization was formed in October 2010 as a reaction to human rights violations of LGBTIQ+ people in the province of South Kivu. Actions were mounted urgently by Rainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko to respond to the deadly nature of these violations and the lack of resources available to organize the struggle.
In the province of South Kivu in eastern DRC, the community is very attached to its morals and customs; homosexual people are considered a hindrance to development and reproduction in the community. Trans people are accused of being in conflict with their customs and morals by practicing unnatural sexual relations and living in a way that is contrary to their gender. Women are subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment; they are sexually mutilated, others are victims of corrective rape, and still others are stripped naked in public. Moreso, six trans women were recently burned alive in their homes, others were violently attacked, and still others were persecuted in their villages.
The goal of the project was to provide safe and secure accommodation to six persecuted transgender women from their community, whose lives were in danger, by paying their rent in an apartment in the city for six months, and providing them with food for six months.
Looking forward, Rainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko envisions making the Democratic Republic of Congo a country where the rights and freedoms, dignity, and security of people rejected because of their sexual orientation and gender identity are recognized and respected.
