Tears in the Congo

• Prize
• Photographer
  Jean Chung, Korea, Republic of
• Website
  http://jeanchung.net

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, thousands of women, regardless of their ages, suffer from the worst sexual violence in the world, whereas average 14,245 rape cases a year are reported in the country. Women get raped in farms, jungles, homes, schools, and even inside IDP camps. Many of them suffer from physical condition called "traumatic fistula" which are often caused by brutal gang rapes that leave victims with no control over urination or defecation and, therefore, spurned by all.

• Biography
  Photojournalist. Born in Seoul, South Korea in 1970. Graduated from Seoul National University in 1993; continued her studies in photography in NYU and photojournalism in University of Missouri School of Journalism in the U.S. Worked as a reporter for the Korea Times in New York, and later interned at major U.S. newspapers such as Newsday and LA Times. She is a Grand Prix winner of prestigious CARE Humanitaire Reportage in 2007 and Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Award in Perpignan, France, first prize winner of Days Japan Photojournalism Awards and WHOâ??s Stop Tuberculosis Partnership Award in 2008, and the second prize winner of Days Japan Photojournalism Awards in 2010. She is also an author of her autobiographical essay, â??A Photographer in Kabul,â?? the reportage on DR Congoâ??s sexual violence, â??Tears in the Congo,â?? and â??â??Struggle for Hope.â?? Currently based in Seoul working as an independent photojournalist.