Strong NGOs and Weak States: Pursuing Gender Justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa

by Milli Lake

Over the past decade, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) and South Africa have attracted global attention for high rates of sexual and gender-based violence. Why is it that courts in eastern DR Congo prioritize gender crimes despite considerable logistical challenges, while courts in South Africa, home to a far stronger legal infrastructure and human rights record, have struggled to provide justice to victims of similar crimes? Lake shows that state fragility in DR Congo has created openings for human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to influence legal processes in ways that have proved impossible in countries like South Africa, where the state is stronger. Yet exploiting opportunities presented by state fragility to pursue narrow human rights goals invites a host of new challenges. Strong NGOs and Weak States documents the promises and pitfalls of human rights and rule of law advocacy undertaken by NGOs in strong and weak states alike.

320 pages, Hardcover

Published June 14, 2018

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Political scientist Mili Lake believes that in states that are weak, such as countries that are ripped apart by war, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) play a major role in the pursuit of formal justice for victims of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) (7). In Lake’s 2018 monograph, Strong NGOs and Weak States: Pursuing Gender Justice in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Africa are compared. Lake and many other scholars observe that despite having progressive laws when it comes to dealing with SGBV, the South African state is not that responsive in reality. Lake believes that the root of this disparity between legal rights and reality is a reluctance on the part of the South African state to deal with “deep-seated socioeconomic disparities that create the conditions for violent crime in general, and SGBV in particular” (98). On the other hand, Lake found in her research that NGOs in the eastern Congo were successful at helping victims of SGBV gain a sense of justice. Lake found that it made victims not accept their situation. Lake found that human rights NGOs had influence in eastern DRC due to the existence of the weak central government (126-130). For all the achievements that victims of SGBV have legally gained in the eastern DRC, there is reason to be cautious about the long term permanence of all of these gains (241). Lake believes that unless an effort is made to make ending SGBV part of the local culture, some of the gains that NGOs have achieved in the eastern DRC will not be sustainable once the NGOs leave (231). Lake covers some of the efforts to achieve the goal of trying to end the SGBV part of the local Congolese culture. Lake also covers the down-sides of having NGOs manage the legal response to SGBV in the eastern DRC. I used Lake’s monograph to write a paper involving the topic of SGBV in DRC. I found it a useful, well-balanced, well-researched, and well-written source of information on the topic of NGOs' response to SGBV in the DRC and South Africa.