"Mobile Courts Combat Rape and Impunity in Eastern Congo", OSJI

Justice in DRC: Mobile Courts Combat Rape and Impunity in Eastern Congo

June 2012   Open Society Justice Initiative

  •  

Download Files

Download the 8-page document.
295.02 KB pdf

The eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been called the worst areas in the world to be a woman or child. For the past 15 years, women and girls in the region have suffered mass sexual violence on an unimaginable scale, perpetrated by the Congolese army, rebels, militias, and others. Impunity has been the rule, and simply finding courtrooms and judges is next to impossible beyond the provincial capitals.

In response, the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) have supported the creation of mobile gender courts able to properly try rape cases. The courts have brought a measure of justice—and dignity—to victims and demonstrate that, with modest support, local institutions can respond even under the most challenging circumstances.