In pictures: Healing wounds

1 of 8 Rape and gender-based violence is still being used as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo despite a peace deal being agreed two years ago. There are at least 40,000 survivors.

2 of 8 Even children have been targeted. One victim says: "I was 14 when I found out I was pregnant. I felt like dying. I didn't want to have a child so early. I wanted to continue going to school."

3 of 8 But help is at hand. The World Health Organization has trained staff in a number of health centres on the special needs of survivors of rape.

4 of 8 Many survivors struggle from pyschological trauma too. This rape victim says: "Because of my chronic fatigue I could no longer work. My husband eventually abandoned me and the children."

5 of 8 Staff at UMAMA, the Women's Development Union, and other NGOs have been trained in psychological counselling. Since 2003, UMAMA has provided counselling to 478 women.

6 of 8 A woman who was raped by soldiers seeks support from a counsellor trained by the World Health Organization at a centre in Konya village.

7 of 8 Some of the experiences survivors live to tell are horrifying. This victim says: "They made my parents have intercourse in public, then beat and buried them alive. I was later raped by 30 men."

8 of 8 And counsellors say men need help too. This husband says: "They bound and tortured me for three days. All because I refused to give them my wife. They took her anyway."