Our organisations welcome the calls to end hostilities made by the participants to the Goma Conference, which started on 6 January 2008, and which should put an end to several months of conflict in the Kivus. The conflict has involved the Congolese army, dissident General Laurent Nkunda’s men, the Maï Maï and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.
Nevertheless, the experience of the latest peace conferences in the DRC has shown that building a sustainable peace in the country cannot be separated from the fight against impunity for serious crimes. On the contrary, the exercise of justice is inseparable from peace, as the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reaffirmed at his meeting with FIDH President Souhayr Belhassen, in October 2007. The Goma Conference’s final declaration will have no credibility if it does address the hope for justice expressed by thousands of victims of human rights and international humanitarian law violations (and in particular victims of sexual crimes) committed during the conflict.
Consequently, our organisations call upon the participants to the Goma Conference to include in their final declaration:
1. an immediate end to hostilities and full acceptance of the incorporation of armed individuals to the Congolese Army;
2. the need to fight against the impunity of those reponsible for the most serious crimes committed during the conflict in the Kivus; to this end, participants should urge:
– that the MONUC and other United Nations agencies present in the DRC shed light on the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, and that they identify those responsible;
– that the international community support the fight against impunity at the domestic level, including through the creation of special hybrid chambers with domestic and international magistrates;
– that judicial authorities apply the Sexual Violence Act;
that DRC authorities cooperate fully with the the International Criminal Court;
– that the ICC Prosecutor open an investigation into the situation in the Kivus.