The content of the law on protection and reparations for victims of rape was presented Tuesday at the presidential residence in Kinshasa. This law, a first in the country’s history, had already been promulgated at the end of last year. She will come to bring some comfort to rape victims in a country that recorded 120,000 rape victims in 2022 alone, according to the United Nations. And one of the key measures of the new text is the establishment of a national repair fund.
With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa
Named since 2019 by the United Nations champion for the prevention of sexual violence, the first lady Denise Nyakeru Tshisekedi is one of the artisans of this text.
She believes that she has contributed, with the help of institutions, among others, to making the DRC the world capital of reparations after decades of impunity and amnesty laws that spared the executioners. ” I remain fundamentally convinced that it augurs a future moving towards more progress and more justice. It obliges our country to move forward on the path of reconstruction so that the victims can finally regain their dignity. Concretely, this law presents several innovations. »
The text also establishes August 2 each year as a memorial day for rape victims. The country now has millions of them.
A National Reparation Fund (Fonarev) will be set up and should benefit from State subsidies and donations from donors. It will be used for reparations which consist not only of compensating the victims, but also of contributing to their care, in particular access to justice. ” We know that justice has a cost. The law, today, for all victims from 1993 of conflict-related sexual violence and crimes against the peace and security of mankind, will pay nothing, explains François Kakese, the coordinator of the ad hoc commission to implement the Fonarev. But there are also collective reparations. There are communities where reparation goes through the rehabilitation or the construction of a school or a health center. A study is underway to define all this. »
A single list of beneficiaries should be compiled. The authorities hope to carry out the first repairs by September.
A concrete example of this sordid reality is the explosion of cases of sexual violence, month after month, week after week, day after day, in the IDP sites around Goma….
Bruno Lemarquis, Humanitarian Coordinator for the United Nations in the DRC