A/HRC/13/63 page 11 surrounded the camp, shot and beat to death at least 50 refugees and burned the camp to the ground. Out of 40 women that were abducted from the camp, a group of 10 who managed to escape described being kept as sexual slaves, gang-raped and mutilated by the soldiers. On 10 May 2009, FDLR retaliated against the civilian population of Busurungi and Moka, raping women and children and killing at least 60 civilians, mostly women and children. 29. Sexual violence against women and girls is also pervasive in revenge massacres perpetrated against civilians by LRA in Orientale province in the aftermath of the Government’s military operations.10 30. There are disturbing reports of women and girls being summarily executed and mutilated after being gang-raped. Some victims had guns, wood, sand or glue inserted into their bodies. Husbands, parents or children trying to stop the rape of their loved ones have also been attacked, killed or forced to rape their own family members. Accounts reveal that women and girls have been abducted and held as sexual slaves both by FARDC members and other armed actors, and have been subject to collective rapes for weeks and months, often accompanied by additional atrocities. 31. Subsequent to the experts’ initial report, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences has received disturbing information about widespread sexual violence against women in prisons throughout the country, mainly as a result of pervasive corruption among prison management officials and lack of security. 32. Despite the 2009 Child Protection Act outlawing marriage of children under 18 years of age, early and forced marriages constitute a serious and growing concern. In addition, cases of children, mostly girls, being subjected to torture and ill-treatment on witchcraft accusations have also been documented. 33. Women human rights defenders, particularly women working in rural communities on cases of sexual violence and as peace mediators, often fall victim to reprisal attacks – including sexual assaults – against them and their families, and are forced to move to safer locations. 34. Noting with appreciation that in November 2009 the Minister of Gender, Family and Children launched the Government’s Action Plan on Combating Sexual Violence, the experts call for greater efforts on the ground. For example, the Agency to Combat Violence against Women, the establishment of which the Government highlighted in its statement before the Human Rights Council of 17 March 2009, is not operational and exists only on paper. 10 See MONUC/OHCHR, “Special Report: Summary of fact-finding missions on alleged human rights violations committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the districts of Haut-Uélé and Bas-Uélé in Orientale Province”, December 2009.