Necessity and difficulties to establish a repressive system for international crimes committed in the DRC

The foundation of the search for truth, materialized by the truth and reconciliation commission, is political and legal. The process is open, civil and civic, and is at the service of the national community. The last thirty years have seen many of the dictatorial regimes give way to democratic evolution in some states deeply permeated by civil war and massive human rights violations. In order to facilitate the transition from war or dictatorship to stability characterized by non-war or democracy, and to enable the population to come to terms with a painful past, many of these new governments have resorted to an extrajudicial process: truth commissions.

Truth commissions perform a very different function from that of judicial institutions. They take a much broader view of human rights crimes and violations and seek to understand the root causes of the crimes or violations that are the subject of the truth-seeking process. Whereas judicial bodies, by definition - and although their role is essential - focus only on specific crimes and their perpetrators.

Truth and reconciliation commissions are official, temporary institutions set up to investigate past violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. They are given varying degrees of mandate. They are generally charged with investigating these violations and recommending reforms to prevent their recurrence. They encourage public acknowledgement of crimes that are often denied or kept secret by the perpetrators. They put the victims at the center of their work.

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions educate by explaining that one does not reconcile with someone one agrees with, but rather with someone one disagrees with. Giving voice to the victims and making the perpetrators speak, who are all present by mutual consent, recognizing and repairing the harm experienced by the former and forgiving the latter, such is its mission which distinguishes it from that of the courts and tribunals.

It is not a question of confronting evidence against evidence as in the courts, but of letting the facts come out. They listen to the victims as well as the perpetrators. They investigate the circumstances, the environment and the causes, they try to establish the political and moral responsibility of the authors.

It is up to the victims to express themselves first, to tell what they have experienced and suffered. But beyond the story, the commission aims at restoring the dignity of the victim, at reparation and reconciliation to the extent possible.

The truth commissions pay particular attention to the commitments of those who want to make reparation for their wrongdoing, so that they keep their word. They insist on the awkwardness that parties must overcome when they refuse to recognize the contribution of others because they do not belong to their camp (COURTOIS G.: 2009). They emphasize the responsibility of the socio-professional groups that have benefited from the situation.

In order to understand the place that the notion of forgiveness occupies in Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, we must follow the fine analysis of Antoine Garapon (GARAPON A.: 2001). To be sensitive to the fact that South African reconstructive justice brings into play "a combination of the judicial and the extra-judicial, a mixture of law and politics, law and anthropology, law and psychology", even law and theological morality. It practices a deformed law that does not shy away from the staging of emotions, revealing a contrario "the emotional poverty of law". It goes beyond positive law by "reviving all that the latter had repressed - vengeance, forgiveness, religion in law - not to go backwards but, on the contrary, to go beyond the past". It is a justice of "recognition" in the double sense, vertical, where it imposes the admission of terrible facts, and horizontal, where it engages people in a reciprocity of mutual recognition (GARAPON A.: 2001).

Truth commissions also have their weaknesses. Sometimes the psychosocial and therapeutic support is deficient, reparation is a delicate matter: the social fabric, the State is not always able to ensure it. Reconciliation remains a long-term process.

The political class of the Democratic Republic of Congo, meeting in Sun City, South Africa, during the inter-Congolese negotiations, reached a consensus known as the global and inclusive agreement. One of the resolutions of this agreement recommended the creation of institutions to support democracy and among these institutions was the truth and reconciliation commission. Thus, a truth commission was created in the DRC.

Unfortunately, the commission, although established, did not accomplish the mission for which it was created for two main reasons. On the one hand, some of the members of the commission's bureau had participated, as rebels, in the commission of serious human rights violations, either directly or as a line manager. This situation was not conducive to the emergence of the commission's work. On the other hand, the lack of vision of the chairman of the said commission who had no knowledge of transitional justice issues until his appointment to this position. Thus, a lot of time and money were lost and spent on training missions abroad to learn the basics of transitional justice. Also, he had no reputation and did not have the support of the population to do this job well, especially since he himself was not known in Congolese national opinion except within his church in Bukavu.

It should also be noted that the establishment of the aforementioned commission did not respect the process generally followed and accepted in the creation of truth commissions throughout the world, in particular the consultation of the population as to whether or not such a commission was justified. For our part, we consider that the truth and reconciliation commission of the DRC has never existed. To paraphrase Professor Joseph Yav, we would say with him that there has been in the DRC "an omission of truth and reconciliation" (CCJT Report: 2005).

In view of the crimes committed in the DRC and the number of victims who are waiting for justice, the DRC must create a truth and reconciliation commission worthy of the name. However, this can only be possible if there is political will to create this institution and if the principles universally recognized and accepted in the process of creating such a commission are respected.

Finally, the person who will be appointed to lead the commission must not only be the subject of a great consensus at both the political and civil society levels, but must also enjoy a great reputation in order to lead the work of the commission to a successful conclusion. Only under these conditions can the DRC have a true truth and reconciliation commission that can do a good job.

At the end, how do we deal with the major obstacles that already stand in the way of the repression of international criminals in the DRC? Won't the foreign powers, some of whom have always been involved in committing acts energetically prohibited by international law and who are also the major decision-makers in the UN for the establishment of the international repressive institution, torpedo this action? Will the national and international groups targeted by the Mapping Report remain inert without trying to get their legs under them to escape justice?

It is therefore conceivable that the road to repression of international crimes committed in the DRC is still long, but not impossible. The will, the determination and the courage of peaceloving men and women who are concerned about fighting, destroying and eradicating impunity forever for a world where conviviality reigns and strict and absolute respect for the rights of all men.

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