By The world as a whole had witness a number of cases around sexual violence overtime. And had always made efforts to cleaning up the mess and getting rid of the nauseating occurrences. Many countries of the world have taken up some measures to bring this crime into check. The Democratic Republic of Congo is not left out.
It is reported that Congo has recently launched a Military Justice Book, in the view of fighting sexual violence. This is contained in a press release published and distributed by APO, yesterday, 11th of July, 2017. The release reads that: “The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reaffirmed its commitment to fighting sexual violence in conflict with the launch of a Military Justice Book at the AU Summit in Addis Ababa last week.”
From reports gathered, the “Military Justice Book highlights critical importance of prosecuting military offenders and presents successful case studies, including the General Kakwavu prosecution.” It is confirmed in “Recent UN figures that there is an 85% decrease in reported cases of conflict-related sexual violence in the DRC over the last three years.”
The Justice Book, according to available reports, “was written by the magistrates of the DRC’s Military High Court in partnership with the office of the Personal Representative of the President on sexual violence and child recruitment, Ms Jeanine Mabunda.
As a resource and reference book, it “highlights the ongoing fight being waged in the DRC against impunity for crimes of sexual violence with case studies of successful, sometimes infamous prosecutions.”
For the people of the republic, report stated that, owing to “the current unrest in some regions of the DRC, the Book’s launch is an important milestone that reminds institutions of the country’s lack of tolerance for those who commit acts of sexual violence during conflict.
Speaking at the Launch, which was well attended by various diplomatic leaders across the continent, “Ms Mabunda, who co-hosted the event with Mr. Smaïl Chergui, called for continued pressure on institutions to hold offenders to account. Ms Jeanine Mabunda was quoted saying:
“The Military Justice Book is the result of my office’s partnership with the Military High Court and our joint efforts to fight against impunity for conflict-related sexual violence. I am proud to launch a book which brings to light the judicial efforts made to tackle this kind of violence in the DRC.
“We are not complacent. Recent fighting, especially in Kasai province, shows that we still have a long way to go. However, we strongly believe the prosecution of perpetrators of all ranks in the military is a critical step in the fight against conflict-related sexual violence in the DRC. We will continue to fight for justice for the victims, and end the impunity of the perpetrators of these crimes.”
Correspondent: Ridwan A. Olayiwola