100 Men or More Raped Me

Genocide in Rwanda: 'I could not tell my son which of the men who raped me was his father'

Flora Drury  BBC News

Carine and her son Jean-Pierre, one of thousands of children born as a result of rape during the genocide in Rwanda

A 24-year-old boy whose mother was raped in the genocide in Rwanda told the BBC how he discovered the circumstances of his birth.

The names were changed in the report to preserve the identity of the family.

Jean-Pierre says he started questioning who his father was when he had to fill out a form at the end of primary school asking for the parents' name.

"I did not know him - I did not know his name," he says.

Woman bursts into tears with baby on her back after fleeing Rwanda in 1994 (Reuters)

Jean-Pierre, for his part, is full of his mother's pride and what she has achieved:

"It's very difficult to see, but I was very happy with her progress."

"The way she accepted what happened, the way she thinks about the future and the way forward."

Note - The United Nations has made efforts to end conflict-related sexual violence - rape was used as a weapon of war in Syria, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar last year.