Executive Summary of a Study on the Protection of Victims and Witnesses in D.R. Congo

This summary is drawn from a study conducted over several months on the protection of victims and witnesses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 2012.

“Executive Summary of a Study on the Protection of Victims and Witnesses in D.R. Congo” is drawn from a study conducted over several months on the protection of victims and witnesses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with a three-month mission in Kinshasa and the East of the Country, between October 2011 and March 2012. It stresses that the need to protect victims, witnesses and intermediaries is real and urgent, and that it “should be part of the State’s priorities.”

However, for the moment, the Congolese state is facing major challenges to discharge its duty to protect victims and witnesses. This summary draws several lines of thoughts and action in the short-, medium- and long-term, to effectively protect them.