A strong stance on gender-based violence was taken, in an area were rape has been used as a weapon in the internal armed conflict as well as in the post-conflict environment
Maria Fernanda Perez Solla (Austria) is a former UN Volunteer with the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). She currently works as a Human Rights Officer with the UN Joint Human Rights Office (BCNUDH) of MONUSCO.
As a UN Volunteer in Duekoue, Côte d'Ivoire in 2009, Fernanda worked as a UNV Human Rights Officer with UNOCI. Her main tasks were to promote human rights, to investigate and document human rights violations, and to advocate for protection in front of state authorities and non-state actors in occupied areas.
Fernanda engaged in such monitoring and reporting activities in remote villages of Moyen Cavally, a province under governmental authority, and Dix-Huit Montagnes, a province under the control of rebel forces. During this time, Fernanda supported an activity that benefited vulnerable/orphan girls in Logual by raising awareness of girl child rights and gender-based violence.
A strong stance on gender-based violence was taken, in an area were rape has been used as a weapon in the internal armed conflict as well as in the post-conflict environment
-- Maria Fernanda Perez Solla, former UN Volunteer
Fernanda is currently a Human Rights Officer on a temporary staff assignment working with a project for the reparation for survivors of sexual violence in Bukavu, Sud Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.