Reparations and Memorialization

The survey then asked respondents “what, if anything,” should be done for the victims. This question was asked without reference to achieving accountability or justice for the victims, and the respondents therefore revealed a wide range of material needs it believed would serve as a form of non-judicial compensation for their suffering. The most frequent answers focused on providing victims with material compensation, including money (40%), housing (28%), food (28%), and other material compensation (40%). Most respondents said such reparations should be provided to both individuals and the community as a whole (43%); 35 percent said it should be for individuals only, and 22 percent for the community only. One out of five considered that punishing those responsible should be done for the victims, and 17 percent indicated that an official recognition of the victims’ suffering would also be important. Psychological counseling was only mentioned by 15 percent of respondents overall, but by 20 percent of the respondents in Ituri. This must be assessed against a background of quasi-nonexistence of formal psychological counseling in eastern DRC, and stresses the need for more to be made available to the victims.

Table 31: Measures for victims

A majority of respondents (60%) said reparations should be paid by the Congolese government. As this question was asked separately from questions regarding justice and accountability, the responses to this question indicate an overall reliance on the structures of the State and the government for providing various services. Only 21 percent said reparations should be paid by those who committed the violence and 11 percent saw it as the duty of the international community. Although survey respondents indicated an expectation of the international community to provide development assistance to satisfy livelihood concerns more broadly (see Figure 4), respondents do not hold the international community accountable for paying reparations for suffering caused by local belligerents (11%).

Table 32: Payment of reparations

About half the respondents (52%) answered positively when asked if some sort of memorial should be established to address what happened in eastern Congo. Those who said yes most frequently proposed to establish a day of remembrance (45%) or a physical object or monument (31%).

Table 33: Memorials