December 10 - 12, 2009 | Parliament of the DR Congo, Kinshasa

From December 10-12, 2009, PGA held an International Parliamentary Conference on Justice and Peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Great Lakes and Central African regions in the Palais du Peuple, seat of the Parliament of the DRC in Kinshasa.

The gathering, co-organized by the national PGA group in the DRC, had, as a central objective, the goal of providing legislators from the Great Lakes and Central Africa regions with a parliamentary forum to discuss the impact of justice on durable peace, which entails effective, sustained efforts towards reconstruction and sustainable human and economic development in the post-conflict recovery processes. A special emphasis was placed on analyses of the draft legislation aimed at implementing the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the national law of the DRC and other countries of the region as well as on the need to put in place specific laws and programs designed to offer meaningful reparations to victims of atrocities.

The conference was opened by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, H.E. Dep. Evariste Boshap and the Minister of Justice S.E. Dr. Luzolo Bambi Lessa, followed by a key-note address of Judge S.-H. Song, President of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Under the auspices of the leading PGA members of the DRC national group, Hon. Emmanuel Adubango Ali and Sen. Mwamba Mushinkonke Mwamus, the conference attracted over 130 Congolese members of parliament, members of the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies (Bandundu, Katanga, Maniema, North Kivu and Province Orientale) and members of parliaments from the Great Lakes and the Central Africa (Burundi, Congo, Kenya, Chad, Uganda) and Europe (Belgium, Switzerland).

The Political advisor to the European Union and Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mr. Jean-Michel Dumont, as well as the US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, Mr. Stephen Rapp, spoke with one voice in making strong statements in support of the execution of pending arrest warrants of the ICC and for more robust national efforts to carry out prosecutions.

Speakers on the panel addressing the problem of violence against the civil populations, chaired by Ms. Jaynet Kabila, President of the Foundation Laurent-Désiré Kabila and Coordinator of the Initiative « Women for Peace in the Great Lakes Region », emphasized the importance of providing victims, including survivors of sexual crimes and enslavement of children, with efficient mechanisms of redress.

The participants of the conference, which was closed by the 1st vice-president of the Senate of the DRC, M. Edouard Mokolo Wa Mpombo, agreed on the following resolutions (non-exhaustive list: for the full text, please consult "Resolutions"):

- To enact the ICC Implementing Legislation in the DRC in the next parliamentary session starting on March 15, 2010. - To deliberate on ICC implementing legislation in Uganda, Chad and all other countries of the Great Lakes Region and Central Africa. In this connection, the first Deputy Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, Hon. Ms. Rebecca A. Kadaga, announced that Uganda will implement the Rome Statute between the end of 2009 and early 2010, namely before the Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the ICC in May 2010 in Kampala. - To push the national governments and the international community to prepare and adopt necessary legislation in order to provide programs and political strategies for the reparation of victims - To increase awareness among parliamentarians about the abolition of the death penalty in order to harmonize international and national Congolese justice on the question of penalties.