The ICC raises awareness among the population of the Kivus on victim participation

The Outreach Unit and the Victims Participation and Reparations Unit of the International Criminal Court conducted a joint mission from 28 July to 4 August 2009 to Béni and Bukavu in the Kivus. This mission, which is the second since the beginning of the year, is part of the outreach campaign in the North and South Kivu region, where the Office of the Prosecutor is currently investigating crimes allegedly committed in the two provinces in recent years by individuals from the all of the groups implicated in the region.

Meetings essentially targeted civil society, representatives of NGOs and human rights advocacy groups, students, and youth and women’s associations. A total of 502 people attended the six outreach meetings organised by the ICC in Béni and Bukavu. The public was thus able to receive information on the Court’s role, mandate and operation, as well as on the course of the cases before it. A substantial part of these meetings was devoted to a presentation on the participation of victims in proceedings before the ICC. The number of participants, which was larger than that at the initial meetings, as well as the questions asked during the meetings, demonstrated great interest on the part of the local population in the issue of the ICC. The representative of students of institutes of higher education in Bukavu stated: “We thank the International Criminal Court for coming to visit us. We would like these meetings to be held also in the more remote affected areas, so as to help the many victims to take part in proceedings before the ICC”.

The other objective of the mission was to launch an outreach radio programme in the region. Radio Graben and Radio Muungano in Béni, as well as Radio Maendeleo in Bukavu, have been broadcasting the programme “The ICC at a glance” since the beginning of August. Aimed at giving information on news of the Court’s judicial activities, this programme is also of an interactive nature, allowing an exchange of questions and answers with the public and acting, in short, as a forum for dialogue between the Court and the public in these areas.

For further information, please contact Paul Madidi of the Field Outreach Unit in the DRC on: +243 99 80 11 403 or +31 646 168 679, or by email: [email protected]