Speech to mark the award of the 2014 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Dr Denis Mukwege by Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament

Dear colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honour for me to welcome to the European Parliament this year’s winner of the Sakharov Prize, Dr Denis Mukwege, and his wife, Madeleine Mapendo Kaboyi, from Democratic Republic of Congo.

Cher Dr Mukwege, Madame, soyez les bienvenus au Parlement Européen!

Dr Mukwege, before I pay tribute to your exceptional work, please allow me to welcome a number of other guests who have demonstrated a genuine commitment to freedom and human rights. One of them is the representative of the Ukrainian EuroMaidan Movement, Yelyzaveta Schepetylnykova.

You have displayed enormous courage;

You have fought to secure a better future for your country, at great risk to your own life;

You took to the streets in order to demonstrate in favour of a free and democratic Ukraine. You have our unqualified support and solidarity.

I should also like to welcome Dinara Yunus.

You have come to Strasbourg today in order to represent your mother, Layla Yunus, who cannot be with us because she is still in prison.

The European Parliament nominated Layla Yunus for the Sakharov Prize because, as the founder of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, she has shown great courage in defending human rights in Azerbaijan.

The European Parliament calls on the Azeri regime to release without delay this innocent woman, whose health is deteriorating every day.

We have tried to send a parliamentary delegation to Azerbaijan to visit Ms Yunus in prison, thus far without success. It is unacceptable that the Azeri authorities should be continuing to deny us access to Ms Yunus.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The following short film will tell you more about Dr Mukwege’s work than I ever could.

This impressive and moving film reveals a lot about you Dr Mukwege, namely that you are both a fascinating personality and a modest man, who has devoted his life to the fight for peace and justice; a doctor who is tireless in looking after his patients and, under the most trying circumstances, will do anything in his power to alleviate their appalling suffering. It is almost impossible for us to imagine the pain and suffering which you are faced with every day in the Panzi Hospital which you yourself set up.

On behalf of the European Parliament, I should like to express our admiration and our deep respect for the work you do every day. Instead of looking away, instead of turning your back, you have become a man who has the courage to look appalling violence in the face, a man who takes care of the most neglected casualties of war, women and girls who are the victims of sexual violence.

Dr Mukwege,

You have alleviated the suffering of countless women and girls.

You have offered the survivors of sexual violence refuge and help in healing their injured bodies and shattered souls.

You have been tireless in condemning the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war, in condemning atrocities which ‘weren’t just violent acts of war, but part of a strategy’.

Rapes are always inhuman and brutal, and we reserve particular contempt for their perpetrators.

Words are all very well, but we need actions, too.

That means bringing an end to the de facto impunity enjoyed by those who commit rapes in armed conflicts.

When soldiers are ordered to commit rapes by their commanding officers, then those rapes are war crimes and must be punished as war crimes.

Mass rapes continue to be carried out in Democratic Republic of Congo. Countless women have suffered the same fate in Syria, Iraq, Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina and in other armed conflicts. Almost all the crimes in question have gone unpunished.

The European Parliament calls on the Government of Democratic Republic of Congo, and the governments of other countries concerned, to shoulder their responsibilities and:

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  to do everything they can to stop rapes immediately;

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  to do everything they can to end impunity for rapists;

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  to do everything they can to guarantee women access to justice.

Dear Dr Mukwege,

In awarding you the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the European Parliament is honouring your remarkable work, your work as a doctor and as a campaigner for the dignity of women, for justice and for peace in your country. I hope that together we can raise awareness about the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war. Rape is an appalling crime, and together we must spare no effort in combating it and eradicating it.

Yesterday, Dr Mukwege, here in the European Parliament, you spoke some words which impressed me immensely: ‘In awarding me this prize, you are recognising all these women and all these girls, both in my country and in other parts of the world, as victims who deserve justice’.

I am proud to present this year’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Dr Denis Mukwege from Democratic Republic of Congo.