Hundreds of Congolese women appealed to their government on Saturday for better protection against gender-based violence, a persistent problem despite the end of years of fighting in the country. "In recent years, young men have taken pleasure in flirting with immoral values," Micheline Ngoulou, who heads the Congolese Association Against Violence Against Women, said. "They used [the] period of chaos to inflict violence against those who are most vulnerable: women."