Denis Mukwege - 2014, Democratic Republic of Congo

Born in Bukavu in 1955, he studied medicine and founded the gynaecology service at Lemera hospital in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was destroyed when war broke out in 1996. Mukwege fled back to Bukavu and started a hospital from tents, building a new maternity ward and operating theatre, but all of this was destroyed in the Second Congo War of 1998. Undeterred, Mukwege rebuilt his hospital in Panzi, working long hours and training staff to treat women victimised by the combatants who had 'declared women their common enemy'. He has treated over tens of thousands of women since the hospital reopened in 1999 and the very first rape victim that he accepted appeared with bullet wounds in her genitals and thighs. Within weeks, dozens of women had reported to the hospital with stories of rape and torture.

Mukwege is an internationally recognised expert in repairing the pathological and psychosocial damage caused by sexual violence. The hospital he runs in Panzi offers psychological and physical care, and provides support to women so that they can develop new skills to earn a living, as many have been rejected by their communities. Girls are also given support to go back to school, and legal aid is offered to those seeking legal redress.

Mukwege has been a tireless campaigner for victimised women ever since he recognised a young woman on his operating table as a girl at whose birth he had assisted at Panzi hospital. For Mukwege, this was a pivotal moment that galvanised him to go beyond healing and start speaking out at home and abroad for an end to the violence raging over the Democratic Republic of the Congo's natural resources. He became a victim himself in 2012, when armed men stormed his home and held his daughters at gunpoint. His bodyguard and friend was killed, but he escaped, fleeing with his family to Sweden and then Belgium. He returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2013 when a group of women, who were living on less than a dollar a day, got together to buy his ticket home.

Mukwege now lives at Panzi hospital despite continuous threats to his life. He has also launched the Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation, which provides support to a global network of survivors of sexual violence. He was deeply involved in Parliament's legislative process that led to the 2017 EU regulation on conflict minerals, which aims to prevent certain conflict minerals and metals from being exported to Europe.

Since 2008, Mukwege has been awarded dozens of prizes in recognition of his work, including the UN Human Rights Prize (2008), the Seoul Peace Prize (2016) and the Nobel Peace Prize (2018). He has also been granted honorary degrees from the Universities of Edinburgh and Harvard. A 2015 documentary entitled 'The man who mends women - the wrath of Hippocrates' illustrates his life and work. The film was subtitled in all EU official languages with the support of the European Parliament. In March 2020, Dr. Mukwege was appointed to coordinate the work of the South Kivu Regional Health Committee in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.