Political Geography: Democratic Republic of Congo

Author:: Michèle Laborde-Barbanègre and Roxane Cassehgari
Publication Date:: 09-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Abstract:: This briefing paper analyzes and reflects on the development of the ICC prosecutor’s strategy and application of procedural rules, since operations began at the International Criminal Court more than a decade ago. The mixed results of the court’s first cases, which arise from the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, underscore that the ICC, as a complementary forum, is not mandated to investigate and prosecute all international crimes. National courts must step in. The paper recommends, among other reforms, that the court explore new ways to adapt the Rules of Procedure and Evidence to take into consideration the important role and participation of civil society.
Topic:: Civil Society, International Law, Criminal Justice, Accountability, and International Criminal Court (ICC)
Political Geography:: Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo

Author:: Sharanjeet Parmar and Guy Mushiata
Publication Date:: 02-2013
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Abstract:: Following field research in late 2009 and a 2010 workshop in Kinshasa, ICTJ produced a report in French on the challenges of enforcing court-ordered reparations. This briefing paper outlines and summarizes the challenges and recommendations discussed in the report. It also proposes additional steps that the government, international community, victims and civil society organizations can take to address the failure of the DRC to fulfill outstanding orders for reparations, as well as broader measures that can be implemented, including non-judicial reparations measures. (French)
Topic:: Civil Society, Transitional Justice, Reparations, Victims, and Human Rights Violations
Political Geography:: Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo

Author:: Tiffany Ma
Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Project 2049 Institute
Abstract:: For almost 10 years, conflict minerals have sustained a devastating war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that has led to over 5.4 million deaths. During these years, the world, particularly China, has continued to consume strategic minerals such as coltan which are used to produce cell phones and computers.
Topic:: Conflict, Mining, Supply Chains, and Minerals
Political Geography:: Africa, China, and Democratic Republic of Congo

Author:: Timothy Raeymaekers
Publication Date:: 11-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:: Timothy Raeymaekers has spent eight years doing fieldwork in the Congolese-Ugandan borderlands, a region that often calls up images of isolation and remoteness, where predatory and armed men ravage, and where death arrives suddenly and unexpectedly. To most people, the eastern Congolese borderlands represent a perversion of economic development, where criminal gangs and looting militias rule on the ruins of state collapse. But rather than collapsed statehood and economic development-in-reverse, Raeymaekers in this DIIS Working Paper argues that the interdependencies and accumulation strategies developed during Congo's protracted crisis have gradually made this borderland a crucial pillar in the equilibrium forces between formal and informal, state and non state actors and regulations in this territorial periphery - which has subsequently become a central margin in today's regional processes of state formation.
Topic:: Migration, Non State Actors, State Formation, Borders, Trade, and Smuggling
Political Geography:: Uganda, Africa, and Democratic Republic of Congo

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