October 11 - 13, 2010 | The Hague, Netherlands
In the context of the ongoing debate on the implementing legislation of the Rome Statute in the Congolese parliament, a multiparty delegation of legislators from the Democratic Republic of the Congo travelled to The Hague to meet with senior officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and attend public hearings of ongoing ICC trials.
The delegation, under the leadership of Senator Mwamus Mwamba Mushinkoke, Chairperson of the PGA-DRC national group, was composed of high level members of the Committees in charge of considering and deliberating on the implementing legislation (Political, Administrative and Legal Commission and Sub-Committee on Human Rights and Justice) of the National Assembly and the Senate.
During their meeting with the President of the Court, Judge Sang-Hyun Song and the Prosecutor, Mr. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the delegation raised specific concerns in relation to the cooperation with the Court and clarified questions touching upon the prosecutorial discretion. Both called upon the MPs to help protecting the ICC in African fora, such as the African Union, and insisted on the judicial and neutral mandate of the Court. Senator Eva Bazaiba Masudi, a prominent lawyer and defender of Human Right in the DRC, underscored in this respect the importance of a clear communication-strategy by the Court and the need to broaden the scope of ICC investigations and cases to avoid continuing misperceptions about the ICC in the DRC and other African countries.
The meeting with the Registrar, Ms. Silvana Arbia allowed to further address specific issues in connection to effective communication of the Court in the DRC and the question of victims participation, protection and reparation. Given the pertinence of the latter issues for the DRC, the delegation received a presentation of the new Executive Director of the Trust Fund for Victims, Mr. Pieter de Baan, and a representative of the outreach section of the ICC. Hon. Alain Makhana Manzenza, MP (Chair of the Sub-Committee on Human Rights and Justice) emphasized the importance of this Fund, given that no decision on reparations has yet been taken and that victims are still waiting to receive justice and redress for the harm suffered.
Ambassador Christian Wenaweser, President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, commended the DRC for its exemplary cooperation and strongly encouraged the delegation to promptly adopt the implementing legislation of the Rome Statute to further streamline the process of mutual cooperation with the Court and the application of the principle of complementarity. Hon. Faustin Kambala Ilunga, MP (Chair of the Commission Politique, Administrative et Juridique), who will preside over the Commission?s debate on the law in the National Assembly, confirmed his full support to a swift adoption of this legislation.
The visit of the four prominent DRC parliamentarians coincided with the arrest of Mr. Callixte Mbarushimana, Executive Secretary of the Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), on 11 October in Paris by the French authorities. Mr. Mbarushimana is suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the Kivus, in the DRC. The delegation used this momentum to unite their voices in a press release, which welcomes the upcoming surrender of the first non-Congolese citizen to the ICC and condemns the ongoing atrocities allegedly committed by the FDLR. (See Press Release in French).
Delegation:
- Senator Mwamus Mwamba Mushinkoke (UDCL), Chair of the PGA national group in the DRC, Vice-Chair, Commission Politique, Administrative et Juridique of the Senate
- Hon. Faustin Kambala Ilunga (MLC), Chair of the Commission Politique, Administrative et Juridique of the National Assembly
- Senator Eve Mazaiba Masudi (MLC), Chair of the Commission Socio-Culturelle of the Senate
- Hon. Alain Makhana Manzenza (ARC), Chair of the Subcommittee Justice and Human Rights of the Commission Politique, Administrative et Juridique
Background:
In 2008, a new and ameliorated text for a draft bill for the implementation of the Rome Statute was introduced in Parliament by two PGA Members, Prof. Raphael Nyabirungu (founder of the Kinshasa School of Penal Law) and Adv. Crispin Mutumbe. In order to identify and launch effective strategies to achieve the inclusion of the draft bill in the Parliament's agenda and its adoption with multi-partisan support, the PGA National Group organized conferences and meetings in March and December 2009 in the Parliament of the DRC in Kinshasa. The ICC-Bill has since then been included in the calendar of the parliamentary sessions of the National Assembly, mainly thanks to the mobilization of the multi-party group of PGA. Unfortunately, the Bill was not discussed in plenary yet but has been tabled again in the session that started on September 15, 2010.