Denis Mukwege

Denis Mukwege
Denis Mukwege in November 2014.
Born	Denis Mukengere Mukwege (1955-03-01) 1 March 1955 Bukavu, South Kivu, Belgian Congo (now in Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Occupation	Gynecologist

Denis Mukwege English pronunciation: /ˈdɛnɪs mᵿkˈweɪɡiː/ (born 1 March 1955) is a Congolese gynecologist. He founded and works in Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he specializes in the treatment of women who have been gang-raped by rebel forces. Mukwege has become the world's leading expert on how to repair the internal physical damage caused by gang rape.

Mukwege has treated thousands of women who were victims of gang wartime rape since the Second Congo War, some of them more than once, performing up to 10 surgeries a day during his 18-hour working days. He has described how his patients arrive at the hospital sometimes naked, usually in horrific condition. In 2014, Mukwege was awarded the European Union's Sakharov Prize and in 2013, he received his first of three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. On May 28, 2015, Dr. Mukwege was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by Harvard University.

Early life

Denis Mukwege was the third of nine children born to a Pentecostal minister and his wife. He studied medicine because he wanted to heal the sick people for whom his father prayed, working at first in a rural hospital, then traveling to France to study gynecology at the University of Angers, after seeing the complications of childbirth experienced by women in the Congo who had no access to specialist healthcare.

United Nations speech

In September 2012, Mukwege gave a speech at the United Nations where he condemned impunity for mass rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 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.'"

Assassination attempt and return

Mukwege in his office in Panzi

On October 25, 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. 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.

He returned to Bukavu on January 14, 2013, where the population reserved him 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.

Awards

Denis Mukwege with the Légion d'Honneur

• Republic of France "Special Human Rights Prize 2007" taken to Panzi Hospital in Bukavu by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs Rama Yade (June 2008)
• UN Human Rights prize (New York, December 10, 2008)
• Olof Palme Prize (Sweden, January 2009)
• African of the Year (Nigeria, January 2009), awarded by Daily Trust
• Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government (Kinshasa, November 2009) by French Ambassador Pierre Jacquemot.
• Van Heuven Goedhart-Award (June 2010) from the Netherlands Refugee Foundation (Stichting Vluchteling)
• Honorary Doctorate by the faculty of medicine at Umeå University, (Sweden, June 2010)
• The Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan (October 2010)
• The King Baudouin International Development Prize (Brussels, May 24, 2011) by the King of Belgium Albert II.
• Clinton Global Citizen Award for Leadership in Civil Society (New York, September 22, 2011) by President Bill Clinton.
• The 2011 Deutscher Medienpreis (German Media Award) in Baden Baden Germany (February 2012)
• Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur Française (Panzi, July 8, 2013) brought to Bukavu by the First Lady of France Valérie Trierweiler and the Minister of Francophonie Yamina Benguigui.
• Civil Courage Prize (2013)
• Human Rights First Award (August 5, 2013)
• Right Livelihood Award (September 26, 2013);
• "Prize for Conflict Prevention" by the Fondation Chirac (Paris, October 10, 2013) honored by the presence of 2 French Presidents Jacques Chirac and François Hollande
• Honorary degree from Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium (February 3, 2014) along with Lawrence Lessig and Jigme Thinley
• The Hillary Rodham Clinton Award in Washington DC (February 26, 2014) at Georgetown University for Advancing Women in Peace and Security 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 1, 2014)
• Solidarity Prize received from Médecins du Monde and the Saint-Pierre University Hospital in Brussels (October 16, 2014)
• The Sakharov Prize for the Freedom of Thought, received from the European Parliament in Strasbourg (November 26, 2014)
• Harvard University Honorary degree as Doctor of Science. Boston, Massachusetts (May 28, 2015)
• Gulbenkian Prize. Lisbon, Portugal (July 16th, 2015)

Publication

• (French) Colette Braeckman: L'homme qui répare les femmes. Violences sexuelles au Congo. Le combat du docteur Mukwege. Bruxelles, André Versaille, 2012. ISBN 978-2-87495-194-7