Roundtable on reparations - Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Events Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Global Fund for Survivors of Sexual Violence is organising a roundtable on 30 and 31 March 2021 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of a pilot project established by GSF to contribute to the development of a national policy for survivors in DRC.

Context:

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been facing recurrent and multifaceted armed conflicts for over 25 years. Many efforts have been made to document these various crimes, notably through the publication of the "Mapping Exercise" report, which covers the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed between March 1993 and June 2003.

More than 10 years after the publication of this report, violence and crimes have not ceased in DRC, and the right to reparation for victims of conflict-related sexual violence has been largely ignored in the public debate.

The Panzi Foundation, together with the support of the Global Survivors Fund, has launched a pilot project on Interim Reparations Measures for Survivors of Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

About the Pilot project:

Launched in October 2019, the pilot project aims to implement individual and collective interim reparation measures. Its ultimate objective is the adoption of a national reparations policy for survivors of sexual violence in DRC as well as the establishment of a National Reparations Fund, managed and financed by the state, in close collaboration with survivors and the civil society.

The project brings together a multitude of actors on the ground, ranging from survivors, to civil society, reparation experts, representatives of the United Nations and national authorities. It runs for a period of two years.

It is currently being implemented in North and South Kivu as well as in Kasai-Central, with more than 1,000 survivors, in collaboration with the Panzi Foundation, the Mouvement des Survivantes en RDC and several other civil society organisations. In addition to medical, psychosocial, legal and socio-economic aspects, the project also focuses on essential elements of reparations such as recognition, compensation and rehabilitation of survivors.

Activities are supervised by GSF and guided by an on-site coordination team; a multi-stakeholder steering committee advises and oversees its implementation. At each stage, discussions are being held to validate, for example, the selection of sites, the outreach plan, the identification of survivors and the procedures for interviewing survivors.

The Global Survivors Fund aims to demonstrate that it is possible to implement interim reparations measures in spite of the many political, geographic, and economic constraints that affect the country.

The project also includes a strong advocacy component towards the authorities in order to promote transitional justice and reparation measures.