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“The discovery by the UN… in late 2005 of three mass graves in North Kivu was a painful reminder that past gross human rights violations committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Congo (DRC) had remained largely un-investigated and that those responsible had not been held accountable.”

So begins the UN Human Rights Mapping Report on the DRC, the most significant record to date of what transpired in the country during one of its worst periods of violence, from 1993 to 2003. The report, released to the public on October 1, 2010, was met with both praise and hostility. Some congratulated the UN for its thorough and honest investigation while others condemned the account as lies. The report does not lay blame yet the passionate response to its release shows how difficult it can be for countries to confront their troubled pasts even as they try to move forward towards peace.

The Great Lakes region of Africa remains one of the most conflict-ridden areas in the world. Over the past decades, few who live there have escaped the violence. Yet historical accounts from the 1990s were intermittent and fragmented. So the United Nations began a major investigation into what actually occurred as “a first step towards the sometimes painful but nonetheless essential process of truth-telling after violent conflict.”

Over the course of a year, a group of 20 international and Congolese human rights professionals researched reports on mass killings, sexual violence, attacks on children, and other abuses. These crimes were perpetrated by a range of armed actors including foreign armies, rebel groups, and Congolese government forces. The findings of the report detail a number of atrocities, many of which were against women and children, who as the most vulnerable population suffered enormously at the hands of those in power. In its incisive conclusion, the report states that some of the documented crimes qualify as crimes against humanity, war crimes, and even genocide.
This last declaration, which refers to the crimes committed by the Rwandan army and Congolese AFDL rebel group against Rwandan Hutu refugees and Congolese Hutu citizens, has sparked the most controversy. When early sections of the report were released in August 2010, the Rwandan government was furious and said it would pull its 3,000 peacekeepers out of the African Union and UN-peacekeeping mission in Darfur in protest. Rwanda has since retracted this threat, but still objects to the report and has been petitioning other African governments to do the same.

Nevertheless, the report was welcomed by the Congolese government, which issued a statement saying, it was “appalled at the horrific nature and scope of crimes.” The Congolese public endorsed the report as well, requesting that the proper steps be taken to bring the perpetrators of the crimes to justice.

Foreign governments and international organizations have also supported the UN’s findings. At a panel discussion held by the Great Lakes Policy Forum, a project of Refugees International and other organizations, on December 2, 2010, the panelists agreed that it was important for the government and international community to correct the current impunity in the DRC.  

“Whether we call it genocide or not, there were crimes against humanity and the victims deserve justice,” said Carina Tertsakian, a member of the panel and Human Rights Watch’s Senior Researcher on Rwanda.

The DRC and the Great Lakes region will never be able to find a complete peace unless they confront and deal with the atrocities committed in the past. As the recent mass rape of over 300 women and girls in Walikale, eastern Congo, demonstrated, serious crimes against the most vulnerable members of society will continue if perpetrators feel they will never be held accountable. The UN report is the first step in the right direction for the people of the DRC and the Great Lakes region.