Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation

Algemene informatie

Our mission is to end rape as a weapon of war, to help survivors restore their lives and to engage others in this cause.

We develop partnerships and raise funds for existing and new programmes implemented by Panzi Foundation in DRC. In addition, we take good practice from DRC to support community-based projects in other countries, and promote the successful holistic healing model
worldwide. Together with Dr. Mukwege, we try to influence government decision-makers and others to do what is needed in terms of policies and practice, to end rape as a weapon of war. Through campaign work we engage the wider public in this cause.

Who we are
- Dr. Mukwege – Special Advisor
- Chairwoman: Brenda Pijlman, Gynegologist
- Treasurer: Wim Jacobs, Advisor Stichting Doen
- Secretary: Ron Thiemann, Member of Board of Directors, Deltares.
- Staff: Esther Dingemans, Director. Abena Lauber, Partnerships and Development.

About Dr. Denis Mukwege:

Dr. Denis Mukwege is a surgeon, gynecologist and women’s rights activist, who founded the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu in 1999. Dr. Mukwege has become the world’s leading expert on ‘repairing’ the internal physical damage caused by (gang) rape, and has trained a team of committed doctors and nurses in complex surgery procedures and fistula care.

Despite an assassination attempt on his life in 2012, after which he stayed abroad for a short period of time, Dr. Mukwege responded to the urgent call from the women in Bukavu to return home and resume his work at the hospital.

Dr. Mukwege campaigns globally to bring the use of rape as a weapon of war to an end. He advocates fiercely for the rights of survivors of sexual violence, to hold perpetrators to account and to raise awareness on the so-called ‘conflict minerals’ in fueling conflict and sexual violence. Dr. Mukwege has earned many distinctions for his work, including the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 2008 and the Sakharov prize in 2014.