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Avocats Sans Frontières in Democratic Republic of Congo
- Location: 1 central office in Kinshasa, 3 decentralised offices in Bukavu, Kindu and Mbandaka
- Date of creation: 2000
- Team: 2 expatriates and 35 to 40 local staff
- Objective: to contribute to the emergence of the rule of law through the establishment of a fair justice system
- Financing: Belgium (DGCD), European Union (EU), Switerland (SDC), The Netherlands (MINGUZA), United Kingdom (DFID), United States (USAID), Embassy of Sweden in Kinshasa (Sweden)
Context
Description of ASF’s programme
1. Facilitating access to justice for people most at risk
2. Guaranteeing a good training for professionals working in the Congolese justice system
3. “Fight against impunity for sexual violence in Eastern Congo”
Perspectives
Interesting links
Context
In the DRC we see a desire for peace and stability on the political, legislative and social levels.
On the political level, there was an historic election in August 2006: the first free and transparent presidential and legislative elections since independence in 1960. The interim President Joseph Kabila won Jean-Pierre Bemba. The elections were administered by the Independent Electoral Commission (Commission électoral indépendante - CEI). The will of the people was expressed through the twenty five milllion registered voters (out of an eligible population of estimated at 28 million people). However, the elections were not easy to organise and this had consequences: the process was slow, there were logistical and security problems associated with the registration of voters; a lack of guarantees from the army as to security; Etienne Tshisekedi’s (Head of the file of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress - UDPS, Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social) boycott of the elections, and the presence of armed groups in the east of the country.
At the level of the legislature, judicial authority was adversely affected by the government’s lack of engagement or of clear political will. The shortcomings were numerous: executive control; an insufficient budget. The project for a post-transitional Constitution is a step in the transitional process intended to lead to the setting up of new, democratically elected institutions. It envisages legal measures guaranteeing the independence of the Parliament (revision of the electoral laws, the amnesty laws the law on the status of judges and the Judicial Appointments Committee, the Rome Statute of the ICC etc.) However there has been a lack of a real campaign to raise awareness and understanding of the Constitution project.
On the social level, the new government has yet to make its mark. Social tensions reflect a situation that remains extremely hybrid. Previously, economic power was too centralised in the hands of those holding political power.
Viewed as a whole there is progress to record: redeployment of military officials exercising a judicial role [auditeurs militaries], reinstatement of 315 judges removed from office in 1997/1998; the setting up of trials of soliders accused of crimes against humanity; the announcement by the CPI of the issuing of an arrest warrant; integration of the police force setting up of the REJUSO (Reestablishment of Justice in Congo - Rétablir la justice au Congo) Project. However, reform and investment in the legal system are slow in a political context that has until very recently been unstable. The Congolese continue to suffer situations of lawlessness, above all in the East of the country.
Description of ASF’s programme
ASF wishes to contribute to the emergence of the rule of law by improving access to justice for groups/people most at risk and by guaranteeing the independence of the Congolese legal system. The programmes are organised around three themes:
1. Facilitating access to justice for people most at risk:
- Legal advice for people through legal clinics (in collaboration with the Association of Congolese Women Lawyers (Association des femmes avocats du Congo - AFEAC) and a presence in places of pre-trial detention.
- Legal assistance for groups/people most at risk.
- Raising awareness and understanding of the law among groups and/or people most at risk. ASF uses popular means of communication for its awareness-raising campaigns. The organisation works in collaboration with Radio Okapi to produce a weekly braodcast on legal subjects of current interest.
2. Guaranteeing a good training for professionals working in the Congolese justice system:
- Legal assistance to those working in the legal system through the organisation’s legal clincis.
- ASF collaborates with, makes recommendations to, and builds the resources available to, lawyers involved in representing the groups and/or people most at risk, in particular in the areas of the struggle against impunity for international crimes. With the aid of the two Kinshasa Bar associations, a pilot project of legal assistance to civilians in pre-trial detention has been sent up in Makala, in response to the overly lengthy periods of pre-trial detention permitted under Congolese law. Legal assistance for the accused and victims in trials before the ICC and training of Congolese lawyers instructed to defend them.
- Training and round tables on law, the ICC and other themes linked to specific types of proceedings for advocates and members of the Bar. The latter are designed to build the capacity of local players through training and continuing education for civil and military judges, a two-year training programme for lawyers training for NGOs working in the legal system and the organisation of round tables at provincial level.
- Circuit hearings in the provinces organised through the ASF regional offices. Before each circuit, the clerk of the Court, the usher, the public prosecutor and the lawyers go to the area two weeks before the court arrives to serve the summons, register proceedings, carry out investigations and give legal advice. Then the court sits for a month to clear the backlog and deal with new civil and penal cases under the mainstream law. After the court has left, the clerk and the usher remain to serve the notice of the judgments handed down and to enforce them.
- Legal support for NGOs working in with the justice system (preparing files for victims, awareness-raising monitoring and following-up on projects).
3. “Fight against impunity for sexual violence in Eastern Congo”
In the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), rape and sexual violence is widespread: more than 50, 000 women and girls have been raped since the conflict began in 1998. 90% of these victims do not have access to adequate medical treatment and even fewer victims have access to justice.
The “Fight against impunity for sexual violence in Eastern Congo” programme includes:
Perspectives
ASF wishes to ensure that, on a daily basis, the legal advice and assistance programmes that the organisation has set up work well. However, the work on the struggle against impunity for international crimes (before the Congolese Courts and before the ICC) requires substantial financial resources to ensure that it can continue. As for ASF trainings, ongoing evaluation and identification of new needs of the population and those involved involved in the Congolese legal system are essential.
In the future, ASF wants to hand over its legal clinic in Kinshasa to AFEAC. ASF also wants to open more legal clinics in its decentralised offices to support the free legal advice centres and the local Congolese bar. As to circuit hearings, ASF wishes to extend its project to ensure that this can cover the entire country.
Interesting links
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"Making Monitoring Work: Strategic Action" thursday December 17th 2009, 9.00 > 18.00
Workshop organised by ASF in cooperation with Diakonia and Al-Haq
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ROOM for JUSTICE - Amsterdam - 15/10 > 30/11/2009
A photo exhibition on Globalisation and Justice
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ASF Programmes
