27 July 2022
The Panzi Foundation’s legal clinics enable women survivors of sexual violence to receive free legal advice and be accompanied in filing a complaint if they wish.
The humanitarian teams of the Luxembourg Red Cross are supporting the construction and expansion of two of these clinics, in Kavumu and Bunyakiri. In Kavumu, the legal clinic opened ten years ago, and at the time it was just a wooden hut.
Today, thanks to the work of the teams on site, a two-storey building is under construction. More solid, more secure and above all much larger, it will enable the Panzi Foundation team to work better in order to cope with the many requests for support that are pouring into the clinic. Since the beginning of the year, 1,298 people have already come to the new clinic for assistance.
The project also supports the procedures for suppletive judgements which allow families to obtain birth certificates for their children. Three hundred certificates have already been obtained! This is a first for the Kavumu Legal Clinic, which had not yet been able to develop this activity.
This project is carried out by the Humanitarian Aid of the Luxembourg Red Cross, in partnership with LuxDevelopment and with the financial support of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
This legal, psychological and socio-economic reintegration support complements the medical care provided by the Panzi General Referral Hospital, directed by Prof. Denis Mukwege.