{"id":38199,"date":"2020-10-08T18:06:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T18:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jww.org\/?p=38199"},"modified":"2021-07-13T23:12:29","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T23:12:29","slug":"mapping-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jww.org\/site\/mapping-report\/","title":{"rendered":"10 years after UN Mapping Report, still no justice in the Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Ten years ago this month, the United Nations published the Congo Mapping Exercise Report.\u00a0 The landmark report <\/span>documented more than 600 incidents<\/span><\/a> of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between March 1993 and June 2003, with women and children as the primary victims.\u00a0 In addition to identifying perpetrators responsible for these atrocities, the Mapping Report issued recommendations for judicial reforms and alternative mechanisms to secure justice for the Congolese people. <\/span>To this day, none of these recommendations have been implemented<\/b>.\u00a0 The failure to create and operationalize justice mechanisms has allowed for persistent violence against civilians to continue in the Congo.\u00a0 Unless the injustices of the past are addressed, the recurring cycles of mass atrocity crimes will continue.<\/span><\/p>

Support survivors \u2013 please support the Accountability for Sexual and Gender-based Violence as a Tool of Conflict Act<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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For years activists, including JWW partner and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege<\/a>, have demanded an end to impunity through the implementation of the Mapping Report<\/a>.\u00a0 Dr. Mukwege\u2019s calls for justice have led to threats on his life, including just recently<\/a> when he decried yet another massacre in the Congo. \u00a0 A JWW petition, signed by many of our committed supporters, helped bring U.N. peacekeepers back<\/a> to watch over Dr. Mukwege\u2019s Panzi Hospital complex in Bukavu.\u00a0 Although Dr. Mukwege is receiving protection, justice \u2013 the goal for which he is willing to assume great personal risk \u2013\u00a0 has yet to be realized.<\/p>

The Congo suffers from a complex web of humanitarian emergencies.\u00a0 It has the largest number of internally displaced people in Africa, with\u00a0civilians constantly being forced to leave their homes to escape insecurity and armed violence.\u00a0 In addition to these constant outbreaks of violence, especially in its eastern provinces, the DRC is home to the second-highest number of severely food insecure people in the world \u2013 a crisis that has been\u00a0exacerbated<\/a>\u00a0by COVID-19.\u00a0 The Congo is also battling a protracted Ebola epidemic in which\u00a0aid workers have been accused of sexual abuse<\/a>.<\/p>

The Need for Internal Investigation<\/b><\/h2>

Stopping these waves of atrocities is exceedingly difficult because the perpetrators\u2019 true identity is often unknown.\u00a0 Many have attributed the majority of atrocities in the North Kivu region to an Islamist rebel group called the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).\u00a0 Congolese activists and organizations, including <\/span>Jewish World Watch<\/span><\/a>, have called this analysis into question.\u00a0 There is now <\/span>growing support<\/span><\/a> for the narrative that other bad actors are involved in these atrocities, including regional powers.\u00a0 For justice to have a chance, the true nature of these violations, including the perpetrators behind them, must first be understood.\u00a0 There must be an independent, impartial investigation to hold those responsible to account.\u00a0 The international community must help the Congolese people identify the perpetrators and create the legal mechanisms \u2013 whether based in the Congo or abroad \u2013that will <\/span>enable the country to break the cycle of impunity –> please change to: enable the country to address its past and ongoing atrocities and finally break the cycle of impunity.<\/p>

JWW\u2019s Work in the Congo<\/b><\/h2>

The DRC is the focus of many of JWW\u2019s projects.\u00a0 These initiatives address the structural, underlying drivers of mass atrocities, restore dignity, build leadership, and foster hope for a conflict-free future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>