The sexual violence, torture, and disregard for national law plaguing the Democratic Republic of Congo is exemplary of the macro-justice problem that has not only helped prevent the country from achieving relative peace and stability since the 1990s, but has contributed to the impunity.

With walls crumbling to expose holes for surreptitious deliveries from the outside world, the Goma prison is meant to hold 200 prisoners. Currently, however, it contains nearly 800. On June 21st to 22nd, male inmates in a Goma prison attempted to escape. Officials reported that they were soldiers who were in their second year of detention. No one managed to escape the prison; however, that night, the men broke into a room containing female prisoners and proceeded to rape 20 of them.

Christine, one of the rape victims, said that she was hit across the chest with an iron bar and raped by at least 10 men. Although she screamed, no one came. Amina, 5 months pregnant, was also violently raped, and worries for her unborn child.

Echoing a frequently repeated entreaty, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that he “call[s] on the DRC authorities to bring to justice those who have committed these crimes and, more generally, to renew efforts to bring an end to the impunity too often enjoyed by perpetrators of sexual violence.”

While the rate of sexual violence has seen a discernible upturn in recent years, torture has been common practice in the prisons for even longer. The notorious National Intelligence Agency (ANR), falls under direct authority of President Kabila. Although there has been some progress in security service reform, it has mostly involved the army. The ANR has not been held accountable for the particular techniques used to uphold state security.

The ANR has been accused of arbitrary arrest and torture. Recently, Mulumba Kapepula, according to the Congolese human rights group Centre des Droits de l'Homme (CDH), was abducted by five government officials for criticizing Kabila in the national railway offices where he works. He criticized the President for paying the players of a national football team while neglecting the workers of national public corporations who had not been paid for three years.

In prison, Kapepula filed to be released for medical treatment. He filed a petition that he had been tortured in prison; he wrote "I was severely tortured, flogged, then plugged to electrical power, and I underwent strangulation of my genitals for the whole night of March 16, by ANR agents" [sic]. The court did not respond, according to CDH.

The Ministry of Justice claims to not only be aware of the situation, but to have undertaken a campaign to stop it. "My ministry is engaged in a vast awareness campaign to put an end to shameful practices [of] harassing and torturing the population," Kazadi told the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.
Congolese constitutional law has upheld human rights principles and forbids torture. The DRC has also ratified international agreements on civil and political rights, and the prohibitions against torture and cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.

The fact that the recent rapes in Goma prison comes on the heels of other documented incidents of rape, torture, and other anti-constitutional crimes highlights that the Constitution has not been implemented in its entirety by practicing institutions. Judges do not always uphold the principles they are sworn to adhere to. Many principles of ratified international agreements have not been incorporated into domestic law. For example, the functioning definition of torture in the UN treaties has not carried over into Congolese law. Congolese law also has a narrower definition of rape than is usually employed by the international community.

The lawyers, judges, and police officers in the DRC are grossly underpaid and many are untrained. The most important institution for the rule of law has failed time and again to hold perpetrators accountable on two levels – oftentimes they never see the case presented to them and other times they fail to rule to uphold the law.

Judges have been appointed and dismissed by the President for the last few years. The High Court that was designed by the legally sophisticated 2006 Constitution to nominate judges and approve presidential appointments was not formed until 2008. Many lawyers and judges are threatened by armed forces when trying a case that involves a member or bribed by wealthier parties. The judiciary is only nominally independent.

Perhaps it is with good reason that many Congolese have little faith in the current system as a vehicle for justice. However, at least in the conflict-torn East DRC, the national justice system still receives more approval from the Congolese people than any other system, including the customary courts, which apply more conservative traditional law within their jurisdiction.

The culture of impunity that is prevalent throughout the DRC has crippled the judiciary system even with the 2006 Constitution’s effort to secure its independence. The Congolese justice system has failed to persecute perpetrators of sexual violence and other crimes. Instead, the International Criminal Court has stepped in to take on the DRC’s biggest violators. Most recently, ex-Vice President Bemba has been called into court to answer for a staggering number of crimes.

It is the IIJD’s position that the DRC must reform the judicial system in order for the nation’s development efforts to succeed.  The persistence of violent offenses like those described above is proof that the judiciary has failed to uphold the basic rule of law.  A strong and consistent judiciary is a cornerstone of the stability that precedes peace and growth.

In order to reform the judiciary, president Kabila and the Congolese government must establish clear jurisdictions, support the judiciary through adequate pay and training, and actively combat the culture of judiciary abuse present in the armed forces and the upper class.  International standards, especially in regard to violent acts, that the Congolese government has already agreed to must be incorporated into Congolese law and enforced by domestic courts.

Without judicial reform, the DRC is almost certain to see its current crisis of violence and judicial abuse continue unabated.  The political stability and economic growth that the international community wishes to see for the DRC requires a strong and consistent judiciary as its foundation.