GENEVA , Switzerland ( Reuters ) -- Extreme sexual violence against women is pervasive in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ) and local authorities do little to stop it or prosecute those responsible , a U.N. investigator said on Monday . A woman struggles to describe her rape by military members . Health workers call rape an epidemic . Rape and brutality against women and girls are `` rampant and committed by non-state armed groups , the Armed Forces of the DRC , the National Congolese Police , and increasingly also by civilians '' , said Turkish lawyer Yakin Erturk . `` Violence against women seems to be perceived by large sectors of society to be normal , '' she added in a report after an 11-day trip to the strife-torn country . Erturk , special rapporteur for the United Nations Human Rights Council on violence against women , said the situation in South Kivu province , where rebels from neighboring Rwanda operate , was the worst she had ever encountered . The atrocities perpetrated there by armed groups , some of whom seemed to have been involved in the 1994 Rwandan massacres in which 800,000 people were killed , `` are of an unimaginable brutality that goes far beyond rape , '' she said . `` Women are gang-raped , often in front of their families and communities . In numerous cases , male relatives are forced at gun point to rape their own daughters , mothers or sisters , '' she said . After rape , many women were shot or stabbed in the genital area , and survivors told Erturk that while held as slaves by the gangs they had been forced to eat excrement or the flesh of their murdered relatives . Women who have been raped are systematically rejected by their families and society . Widespread sexual abuse in the various conflicts racking the republic -- which last year held elections hailed as marking a new era -- `` seems to have become a generalized aspect of the overall oppression of women , '' Erturk said . Her report followed charges from U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour last week that soldiers and police used excessive force , including summary executions , in quelling opposition protesters in the west of the DRC earlier this year . In the central Equateur province , the police and army often responded to civil unrest `` with organized armed reprisals that target the civilian population and involve indiscriminate pillage , torture and mass rape '' , the report found . Although the DRC parliament outlawed sexual violence in July 2006 , `` little action is taken by the authorities to implement the law and perpetrators continue to enjoy immunity , especially if they wear the state 's uniform , '' Erturk said . Erturk said Congo 's justice system was corrupt and in `` a deplorable state , '' while conditions in prisons were `` scandalous '' . Senior army and police officers shielded their men from prosecution , and when some were arrested they escaped easily , probably `` with the complicity of those in charge . '' In a few cases courts had ordered the state and individuals to compensate victims . But `` to this day the government has not paid reparations to a single victim who has suffered sexual violence at the hand of state agents , '' said E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters . All rights reserved.This material may not be published , broadcast , rewritten , or redistributed .
U.N. finds gang - rape ##s ; men forced to rape daughters , mothers , sisters . Victims shot or stabbed in genital ##ia , survivors forced to eat excrement , flesh . Army , police , non - state militias present , protected by senior citizens . Justice system does nothing to protect women and girls from rape .