MONUSCO supports the organization of a round table on judiciary protection

14 sep 2015

MONUSCO supports the organization of a round table on judiciary protection

Kalemie – 7 September 2015 – The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (BCNUDH) and MONUSCO Justice Support Section recently organized a round table on the problematic of the judicial protection of victims, witnesses, and experts before, during and after the trial.

The objective of the activity was to bring the Justice sector and extra judiciary actors to take ownership of the protection of the victims, witnesses and experts, to provide appropriate solutions in order to guarantee a fair trial for all by preserving physical integrity, honor and dignity of the individuals. Four themes were addressed, amongst others, the provisions and judiciary practices that undermine the judiciary protection of witnesses, victims and experts; the provisions and judiciary practices that support the judiciary protection of the witnesses, victims and experts; the judiciary actors and presumed perpetrators in the face of protection; the actions to take before, during and after the trial.

The Round Table found that there is no specific legal protection mechanisms in the Congolese law; so, it was a very good opportunity to look into a number of legal instruments underlying the problematic of judiciary protection for the victims, witnesses and experts before, during and after the trial and to make proposals in terms of provisions to the law makers.

At the end of the session, some recommendations were formulated to the decision makers at different levels: To the DRC Government and Parliament: To make a law to integrate into the Congolese legislation the provisions of the Rome statute; To ease the procedure for compensations; to set up a special fund for holistic assistance; to provide the Prosecutor’s office and the Judiciary Police with modern technical means to hunt the criminals, which will reduce the physical presence of experts and witnesses before the courts (setting witness cameras, analyzing digital prints and ADN); to ensure the training of experts and criminal investigation police; to create a fund for pro-deo consultations; to equip Prosecutor’s Office with a vehicle to transport indicted persons; To facilitate the procedures for obtaining certificates for the needy.

The round table requested the magistrate for the Prosecutor’s office to effectively enforce the provisions of the articles 21 and 51 of the penal procedure which provides for a compensation payment to the witnesses and experts; the Congolese civil society for its part should disseminate the provisions of the Congolese laws and the Rome Statute on the judiciary protection of the victims, witnesses and experts.

About thirty participants attended the session including ten civilian and military judiciary officials, ten members of the civil society organizations, four lawyers and judiciary actors, two Judiciary Police Officers, and three heads of the technical departments in the Tanganyika province.

Marcelline Comlan