September 5, 2011

The Anglican Provinces of Rwanda, Burundi and Congo have all got behind an initiative to work to prevent sexual violence. The ‘We Will Speak Out' coalition, at http://www.wewillspeakout.org/, initially comprising the Anglican Communion, Tearfund, Christian Aid, and Restored was established to urge the Church to speak out against sexual violence and came about as a response to the findings in Tearfund's research report, ‘Silent No More,' which documented the role of the church in response to sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Liberia, with some later study in Burundi. It concluded that the Church had largely failed to respond adequately to sexual violence and had sometimes been unintentionally instrumental in marginalising those who have experienced its devastating consequences.

Anglican Communion News Service, London