December 13, 2024 02:03 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
UP teenager kills mother, lives with body for 5 days | At least six people including a child killed in Tamil Nadu hospital fire | Amid Atul Subhash row, SC says mere harassment is not enough to prove abetment to suicide | India's D Gukesh becomes youngest ever world champion in chess | Devendra Fadnavis meets PM Modi amid suspense over Maharashtra portfolio allocation | Congress wants to deviate the issue of Sonia Gandhi-George Soros link: JP Nadda | Bengaluru techie suicide: Atul Subhash's family demanded Rs. 10 lakh as dowry leading to my father's death, claims estranged wife | Syria rebels torch tomb of ousted president Bashar al-Assad's father | Donald Trump vows to eliminate birthright citizenship after taking charge | No alliance with Congress in Delhi polls: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal
DRCongo

DR Congo: War crimes conviction ‘an important victory’ for justice – UN envoy

| @indiablooms | Nov 25, 2020, at 10:36 pm

New York: Two senior UN officials welcomed on Tuesday the war crimes conviction and life sentencing of an armed combatant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, and her counterpart on Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, lauded the Cour Militaire Opérationnelle of North Kivu for the conviction and sentencing of Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka – part of the Nduma Defence of Congo armed group (NDC-Sheka) – on charges that included rape, sexual slavery and the recruitment of children. 

Ms. Gamba called the verdict “an important victory for those who seek justice for grave violations against children” in the DRC and elsewhere. 

“It is a formidable example showing that no individual, no matter how powerful, is immune from being held accountable for those violations”, she added.

Appalling crimes

He and co-conspirators, including Séraphin Nzitonda Habimana, also known as Lionceau, of the so-called Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), were tried for mass crimes committed between 2010 and 2017.

Among the violations were attacks in 2010 against civilians in Walikale territory in which the UN Joint Human Rights Office said that at least 387 civilians suffered sexual violence. The Security Council condemned the assaults in the strongest terms and called for the perpetrators to be held accountable and prosecuted. 

Thereafter, Mr. Sheka was added to the Security Council sanctions list for the DRC. Following a two-year trial that began in 2018, both defendants were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

“My mandate has pursued justice for Messrs. Sheka and Lionceau’s crimes with a coalition of national and international partners, for the sexual violence they have committed for over a decade”, explained Ms. Patten. “The verdict sends a strong signal that impunity for sexual violence in Congo will not be tolerated”.

Verdict sends ‘clear message’

Both UN envoys praised the brave victims who came forward to testify, their attorneys and the Congolese prosecutors who pursued the case with diligence. 

They highlighted the broad coalition of national and international actors who worked together to ensure that justice was done, which they maintained stands as a model for the future.

Moreover, the Special Representatives welcomed the UN’s technical support, particularly that of its Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) as well as the military justice authorities that contributed to the outcome.

“North Kivu is still subject to insecurity and sexual violence, but this verdict is a clear message to perpetrators that you will be brought to justice no matter how long it takes”, said Ms. Patten.

‘Justice will prevail’

Ms. Gamba added, that “through this verdict, once again parties to conflict are reminded that violations against children cannot be overlooked, and that sooner or later justice will prevail”. 

The Special Representatives also called upon the DRC Government to provide reparations and support to victims of Mr. Sheka’s crimes who still suffer long after the violations.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
Xi Jinping, Putin in Russia Mar 22, 2023, at 08:26 pm