The Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) exchange views with Dr Denis MUKWEGE, Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2018 and Sakharov Prize laureate 2014, in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Extraordinary meeting Subcommittee on Human Rights: extracts from the exchange of views with Dr Denis MUKWEGE, Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2018 and Sakharov Prize laureate 2014

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE, 2014 Sakharov Prize laureate, I would like to thank the Chairperson of the Human Rights Sub-Committee, mrs Arena, for the organisation of this extraordinary meeting, but also for having, I must say, drafted with the Vice-President of Parliament, Mrs Heidi Hautala, a press release dated 12 August to guarantee my safety by the UN police, when I was threatened, intimidated for denouncing massacres and demanding justice in my country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE, 2014 Sakharov Prize laureate, This report is above all a true inventory mapping documenting 617 violent incidents committed between 1993 and 2003, suggesting that a series of serious violations of human rights and humanitarian rights have been committed. The report concludes that the majority of documented crimes can be classified as crimes against humanity and war crimes. Some acts could even constitute crimes of genocide if brought to the attention of a competent court.

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE, 2014 Sakharov Prize laureate, For example, women were buried alive after being raped and impaled, believers who sought refuge in churches that have been burned.

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE, 2014 Sakharov Prize laureate, As part of the domestic capacity assessment and to deliver justice, UN experts have estimated that the capacity of the Congolese judicial system to end impunity for international crimes was considered to be undoubtedly inadequate.

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE, 2014 Sakharov Prize laureate, The UN experts first advocated the establishment of joint specialized chambers in Congolese courts, where Congolese judges and magistrates would sit alongside their international counterparts to deliver justice to victims and help build the capacities of Congolese bodies, prosecutors and prosecutors of judgments. It recommends the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and reparations programmes for war victims.

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE, 2014 Sakharov Prize laureate, Despite the fact that the report was published ten years ago, none of these recommendations have been implemented to date.

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE, 2014 Sakharov Prize laureate, We are encouraged by the recent communication from the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, His Excellency F&eacute;lix Tshisekedi, a politician unrelated to the crimes of the past, who instructed the Congolese government to put the issues of transitional justice on its agenda at the Council of Ministers of 7 August 2020.

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE, 2014 Sakharov Prize laureate, We want to go beyond the recommendations of the Mapping report. We support the Joint Specialized Chambers, but we also advocate the establishment of an International Criminal Tribunal for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For different reasons. First, the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction only over crimes committed after July 2002, whilst those covered by the mapping report, covers the period from 1993 to 2003.

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE, 2014 Sakharov Prize laureate, This situation, which shames our common humanity, can no longer last. We hope that the European Parliament will commit itself by a strong resolution, with a desire to support the establishment and implementation of a holistic justice strategy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Extraordinary meeting Subcommittee on Human Rights: extracts from the exchange of views with Dr Denis MUKWEGE, Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2018 and Sakharov Prize laureate 2014

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