Denis Mukwege

Dr Denis Mukwege is a world-renowned gynecologist, human rights activist and Nobel Peace laureate from east Congo. He has become the world’s leading specialist in the treatment of wartime sexual violence and a global campaigner against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Denis Mukwege founded Panzi Hospital in 1999 as a clinic for gynecological and obstetric care. However, when war broke out, patients arrived with gruesome injuries. As Panzi Hospital became a refuge for thousands of victims, the team developed a specific expertise in the treatment of wartime rape. Dr Denis Mukwege campaigns globally to bring the use of rape as a weapon of war to an end. Together with the Yazidi activist Nadia Murad, Dr Mukwege received the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his “efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.” Dr. Mukwege received numerous awards for his work, including the UN Human Rights Prize (2008), the Right Livelihood Award (2013) and the Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament (2014). TIME magazine listed him among the world’s 100 most influential persons and the Carter Foundation named him a ‘citizen of the world.’