Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - On 1 October 2010, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published the Mapping Report regarding the serious crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from 1993 to 2003, a dramatic report that has brought to light a long series of war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide perpetrated against the unarmed civilian population, already victims of poverty and injustice. Brutal violence still continues to this day through murders, robberies, rapes, attacks on vehicles and villages, creating a climate of fear and terror. One of the reasons why violence has certainly not stopped is the impunity, which the perpetrators of these crimes have so far benefited from. This is the reason why the Congolese Minister of Justice is currently working on a draft law on the creation of “specialized mixed rooms”.
We are talking about "specialized" judicial courts, responsible to open investigations and prosecute the perpetrators of most serious crimes committed in the DRC, as war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide. Jurisdictions will be "mixed", because composed of magistrates, judges and Congolese and foreign lawyers. "Probably, the Congolese government has not realized that peace cannot be built by integrating former fighters into the national army or promoting former war men to higher ranks, but by arresting and prosecuting them, thus by making justice to the many victims, killed or survivors of their abominable crimes, " says a note sent to Fides by the Network for Peace in Congo, sponsored by the missionaries operating in the country.
From 6 to 8 April, members of the Congolese government, diplomats, UN officials, representatives of international NGOs and civil society representatives of each of the eleven provinces of the country, met in Goma (North Kivu), to discuss about possible improvements to the draft law on "specialized mixed rooms ". The 34 participants from the civil society adopted a common position on the bill, expressing their general support for the proposal to create a specialist mixed-court, provided some important changes are made to ensure its independence, its credibility and its effectiveness. Among the improvements required are included: the participation of international staff in all organs of the court, the extension of its jurisdiction to include current crimes, the clarification of the role of victims, the protection of witnesses during trial, and strengthening the rights of the accused. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 05/07/2011)
