Photo: ISHR Catholic bishops in Congo are calling for a special international criminal court to try people suspected of mass killings and human rights abuses in the African country, where thousands of women and girls have been raped by armed men.
The bishops made the call in a statement released October 19 after their plenary meeting in the capital, Kinshasa. Their voices joined those of local and international human rights groups, which have been demanding an international criminal tribunal to try the crimes against humanity and to help end impunity.
Responsibility
“We demand the government makes a formal request for the establishment of a special criminal court to initiate proceedings against those – both external and internal – presumed responsible for the death of thousands and massive violation of human rights,” said Fr Donatien Nshole, secretary-general of the Congolese bishops’ conference.
The bishops’ statement urged people not to let their sovereignty be stolen. The clerics want the court to focus on the 2010 UN Mapping Report, which detailed the mass killings, rapes and displacement in the country.
The report findings indicated that from 1993 to 2003, more than 600 war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide were committed in the country.