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Important Step Toward Justice in DR Congo?

Transitional Justice Plans Should Include Prosecutions for Grave Crimes

The Congolese human rights minister launched national consultations on a new transitional justice initiative that, if implemented, would help the Democratic Republic of Congo emerge from conflict, address grave human rights violations, and institute…
Women demonstrate for peace in Beni, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, April 23, 2021.
News

ICC Sentences LRA Leader to 25 Years

Dominic Ongwen’s Status as Child Victim Factors into Punishment

The International Criminal Court (ICC) today imposed a 25-year-sentence on Dominic Ongwen, a former leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The sentence marks an important milestone in the search for justice for victims of the grave international…
Dominic Ongwen at his confirmation of charges hearing in ICC courtroom I on 21 January 2016 © ICC-CPI.
News

DR Congo: Prioritize Justice for Serious Crimes

New Lukonde Government Should Set Transitional Justice Roadmap

(Kinshasa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo’s newly appointed government should adopt a clear strategy for holding those suspected of criminal responsibility for grave human rights violations accountable, a coalition of over 50 Congolese and…
Women demonstrate for peace in Beni, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, April 23, 2021.
News

LRA’s Ongwen: A critical first ICC conviction

Eighteen years ago, in February 2003, Human Rights Watch interviewed Angela P, who was 10 years old when the brutal armed group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) kidnapped her in northern Uganda. At age 15,  she was forced to become a “wife” to an LRA…
Dominic Ongwen at his confirmation of charges hearing in ICC courtroom I on 21 January 2016 © ICC-CPI.
News

Uganda: First ICC Conviction of an LRA Leader

Dominic Ongwen Guilty of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

(The Hague) – The conviction of Dominic Ongwen on February 4, 2021 is a major step for justice for widespread atrocities committed by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda, Human Rights Watch said today. The guilty verdict at the…
Dominic Ongwen at his confirmation of charges hearing in ICC courtroom I on 21 January 2016 © ICC-CPI.
News

ICC to Rule on Lord’s Resistance Army Leader

Verdict in Dominic Ongwen Case Set for February 4

(The Hague) – The International Criminal Court’s trial of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader Dominic Ongwen, in which a verdict is due on February 4, 2021, has been a significant step toward justice for atrocities committed by the group in…
Dominic Ongwen, a Ugandan commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army, waits for the judge to arrive as he made his first appearance at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015.
News

Q&A: The LRA Commander Dominic Ongwen and the ICC

Who is Dominic Ongwen? What is the Lord’s Resistance Army? How did the ICC come to bring charges against Ongwen? What are the charges against Ongwen? How does Ongwen’s experience as a child soldier affect judicial proceedings against…
Dominic Ongwen, a Ugandan commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army, waits for the judge to arrive as he made his first appearance at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015.
News

How to Hold a Former Child Soldier Accountable?

Dominic Ongwen, Kidnapped by the LRA at Age 10, to Face ICC Judgment

After a four-year trial, in February the International Criminal Court will deliver its judgment in the case of Dominic Ongwen, a senior commander of the brutal rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). He is charged with 70 counts of war crimes and…
Dominic Ongwen, a senior commander in the Lord's Resistance Army, sits in the court room of the International Court in The Hague, Netherlands
News

DR Congo: Take Concrete Steps to End Impunity

Little Done Since UN Mapping Report

(Kinshasa) – The Congolese authorities and the United Nations have not done enough to hold human rights violators to account and deliver justice to victims a decade after the landmark UN Congo Mapping Exercise Report was published in October 2010,…
A cross marks graves near the Biaro refugee camp, an estimated 42 kilometers south of Kisangani, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, May 18, 1997.
News

The ICC’s Work in Congo Isn’t Done

On June 17, the Canadian Partnership for International Justice submitted a letter to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) urging her to investigate the former Congolese president, Joseph Kabila, and senior officials from his…
A Congolese victim of ethnic violence rests inside a ward at the General Hospital in Bunia, Ituri province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo June 25, 2019.
News

Congo Warlord Gets 30 Years

Persistence Over Many Years Helps Bring Bosco Ntaganda to Justice

How long had you been investigating Ntaganda’s abuses? I started documenting his abuses when I first moved to Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2008. Bosco Ntaganda was a member of the Rwandan-backed CNDP (Congrès national pour la…
Bosco Ntaganda sits in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court
News

DR Congo: Warlord Sought by ICC Killed

Sylvestre Mudacumura’s Forces’ Victims Entitled to Justice, Redress

(Goma) – The death in the Democratic Republic of Congo of a rebel leader wanted by the International Criminal Court highlights the need to bring justice for his forces’ many victims. The Congolese army announced on September 18, 2019 that its forces…
Sylvestre Mudacumura.
News

ICC: Congo Warlord Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity

Bosco Ntaganda Case Spotlights Need for Justice in DR Congo

(The Hague) – The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) conviction of the Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda sends a strong message that justice may await those responsible for grave crimes in the Democratic…
Bosco Ntaganda sits in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court
News

DR Congo: Q&A on ICC’s Ntaganda Trial

Key Issues for July 8 Verdict on Former Congolese Warlord

(New York) – Human Rights Watch released today a question-and-answer document on the trial of the former Congolese general and armed group leader Bosco Ntaganda before the International Criminal Court (ICC). The court’s verdict in the case is…
Bosco Ntaganda sits in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court
News

Q&A: Bosco Ntaganda, DR Congo, and the ICC

On July 8, 2019, a panel of three judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is due to deliver its verdict in the case against Bosco Ntaganda for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ituri, northeastern Democratic Republic of…
Bosco Ntaganda sits in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court
News

A Call for Justice in Africa’s Great Lakes Region

Nairobi Conference Commits to Greater Efforts to Fight Impunity, Defend Rights

Last week, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region met in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss “combating impunity and upholding human rights as key contributors to peace and security.” Representatives from the organization’s 12…
Jean Baptiste Nguondija, a resident of Ngbada, Central African Republic, by the grave of his 10 year-old daughter Nathana Poura. Nguondija has lost 5 children since the conflict began in 2013.
News

Remembering Alison Des Forges, 10 Years Later

Rights Champion Wrote Definitive Account of Rwandan Genocide

Ten years ago today, our beloved colleague Alison Des Forges died in the crash of Flight 3407 traveling from Newark to her home in Buffalo. Alison had recently been in Uganda to meet with her research team that, to my great fortune,…
News

Ten Years On, Still No Justice for Congo Massacre

Commanders Behind Kiwanja Killings Never Held to Account

On November 4 to 5, 2008, rebel forces from the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) killed around 150 people, including 14 children, in the town of Kiwanja in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo – one of the region’s…
News

No Redress for Central African Victims

International Criminal Court Acquits Jean-Pierre Bemba

The International Criminal Court (ICC) appeals chamber last Friday overturned the conviction against Jean-Pierre Bemba, former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bemba was the court’s sole prosecution from its…
Former Congo vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba looks up when sitting in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court to stand trial in The Hague, Netherlands, September 29, 2015.

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