Bunia, 8 May 2012 – From 7 to 8 May 2012, The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) organized a training workshop for magistrates in the Ituri district on "la Lutte contre l'impunité des violences sexuelles" (Combating Impunity for Sexual Violence). This workshop is part of the Government's Stabilization and Reconstruction Plan for Areas Emerging from Armed Conflict, known by its acronym STAREC.

The workshop consisted of modules on general notions concerning sexual violence, more specifically the crime of rape under international law, the global strategy in combating impunity for sexual violence, the protection of victims and witnesses of sexual violence, drafting and reasons for judgments on sexual violence.

The head of office of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) in Ituri seized this opportunity to trace the history of sexual violence in this territory, and also called on participants' effective awareness to the gravity of sexual violence.

Amadou Maïga/ MONUSCO