The following resources were assembled by Ann Willhoite of CVT, and accompany the webinar, Refugees from the DRC: An Overview for Torture Treatment Programs.
Current background information
Cultural Orientation Backgrounder from the Cultural Orientation Resource Center:
http://www.culturalorientation.net/learning/populations/congolese-refugees
UNHCR fact sheet:
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e45c366.html
The Florida Center for Survivors of Torture Country Conditions Report:
Sexual violence
UN article on rape in DRC
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45529#.Ul0hyVCsh8E
Historical background information
There are numerous books articles and reports about the current conditions in the DRC and also on more historical information. Below are a few examples but by no means an exhaustive list.
Congo before European intervention
Colonialism in the Congo: Conquest, Conflict, and Commerce
Choices for the 21st Century Education Program
Brown University
http://www.choices.edu/resources/detail.php?id=13
Belgium's colonization of the Congo
Hochschild, A. (1999). King Leopold’s Ghost. New York: Houghton Mifflin
An account of Belgian King Leopold II's seizure of the Congo in 1885 and those who opposed him, launching first great human rights movement of the twentieth century.
Fiction
Kingsolver, B. (2008) Poisonwood Bible. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics.
Set in 1959 an American missionary and his family settle in a remote village in the Belgian Congo and find they are caught in political upheaval as the Congolese seek to wrest independence from Belgium.
Trauma-informed care
SAMHSA's National Center for Trauma-Informed Care (NCTIC) is a technical assistance center dedicated to building awareness of trauma-informed care and promoting the implementation of trauma-informed practices in programs and services.