A Voice For the Voiceless
The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. We recruit graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.
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Arche d’Alliance hopes to organize almost 30 Committees of Mediation and Reconciliation (CMCs) throughout the Haut Plateau, in its campaign to bring the rule of law into the war-affected region above Uvira. The program has set three main goals:
How the CMCs Work
CMCs function as alternative "courts" for settling local disputes and assisting refugees and internally displaced persons in underserved areas. Peace Fellow Walter James visited a meeting of one CMC in the village of Livungi, on August 3, 2009.
The Livungi CMC has around ten members, including local municipal leaders, prominent local women, a representative from the FARDC and the police, and other notable community and tribal leaders. Their job is to resolve minor disputes, such as property, harvests, debts, inheritances, and domestic quarrels. Any individual can bring a grievance to the CMC, which will then investigate and render a non-binding decision. If one or both of the parties declines to accept the decision, the CMC will pass the case off to Arche d’Alliance to be heard in court in Uvira.
The CMC in Livungi was established in 2006 and attracts villagers from about 30 kilometers away. It is managed by Givernal Twaibu, a local Arche d’Alliance inqueteur. Givernal who told Walter that the CMC had heard 80 cases since the beginning of the year. “Nine times out of ten parties agree to the decision of the CMC. People in Congo are not opposed to well-reasoned conflict resolution. It is just that structures that facilitate such resolutions have long been absent.”
Protecting Women
CMCs are required to have several woman representatives, so they provide balance and justice for women. “Respecting women’s rights is very important,” said Livungi CMC member Nestorine Seremba, a nurse at a local dispensaire, “In Congo, the woman is the center of the family.”
One of those who appealed to the Livungi CMC is Zawadi (left), a Rwandan. At the age of 19, Zawadi was given in marriage as the second wife to a much older man. They fled into the Eastern DRC in 1994, following the genocide in Rwanda. After her husband died and left her with two children, the two sons of her former husband, by his first wife, seized most of the family’s land. They argued that as a Rwandan and a refugee, she was not entitled to more.
By this time, Zawadi was 30 years old and a widow. She faced many obstacles as a refugee, a woman, a member of an ethnic minority, and a second wife. Also, she did not have the means to travel to Uvira and file a case in court. So she appealed to the Livungi CMC.
In July, Zawadi and one of the brothers were called before an arbitration council, set up by the Livungi Center (right). The council members asked many questions. Zawadi’s voice trembled a little as she described how her and her children were chased from their home by her husband’s family.
After many questions, the committee members agreed that the two brothers had not given Zawadi enough land to grow enough food for herself and her children. They told one of the sons that he was in the wrong, as he had not considered the impact on Zawadi’s children. The fact that the Committee members were important figures in the community, trained in civil rights, made it more likely that the sons would respect their decision.
Assisting Returning Refugees
Arche d’Alliance also uses CMCs to help returning refugees secure documentation. During Walter’s visit to the Livungi CMC, a group arrived from Katubota, a small village 10 km away, to collect birth certificates for their children (left). One refugee, Jean Mashaho, explained that it would have been very difficult for these villagers to get certificates without assistance from Arche. They would have had to travel to Uvira, fill out forms, pay fees, and wait for the notoriously slow Congolese bureaucracy.
Peace Fellow Ned Meerdink was also impressed by Arche’s work on behalf of returning refugees. When Ned arrived in Uvira for AP, in September 2008, the refugee crisis was showing signs of improvement, and refugees were returning from years abroad in camps in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania.
Ned accompanied a team from Arche d’Alliance to villages near the border with Burundi. Arche had arranged for Congolese magistrates to help some recently-returned refugees to prove their Congolese nationality, and request state identification documents for the first time. Most of the refugees had been gone for about a decade. Most of the children under 10 had been born abroad in the camps, and spoke Kirundi (the language of the Burundi camps) rather than Swahili.
Their cases were heard all morning and afternoon. “Until they receive their official Congolese documents, they will remain extremely vulnerable and unable to move to new places or cross the border,” wrote Ned. “This becomes a significant problem because many have families that are still in Burundi. They are also unable to benefit from services that are available in Burundi but not in Eastern Congo, such as good hospitals or well-stocked markets and drug stores. It is hard to register for school, receive medical care, or even report violations without proper identification.”
Nuts of Peace
(From the blogs of Walter James). Arche’d’Alliance is seeking to strengthen civic participation in villages by forming local groups that are known as “nuts of peace” (noyaux de paix). Fifty per cent of the members are women.
Peace Fellow Walter James attended one meeting in the village of Makobola, in June 2009. Makobola lies on the border between Uvira and Fizi, and was the target for a ferocious attacked by Banyamulenge rebels in March of 1998. Today, FARDC soldiers are present, but Burundian rebels and Mai-Mai militia regularly make forays into the town. It is in this sort of atmosphere that Arche is trying to build respect for the law.
On the day that Walter visited Makobola, Arche d’Alliance had sent the supervisor of the noyaux program, Masumbuko Songolo, to give a community seminar on women’s participation in the electoral process. Most of his audience were women (left).
Songolo started out by giving a brief summary of the last election in the Congo (2006). He pointed out that 55% of those who voted were women, and that four of the candidates for president had been women. Articles 11-17 of the Congolese Constitution specifically concern women. Yet there were no women in provincial leadership in Uvira and only one woman in the Fizi provincial leadership.
Why did women not run for office in these parts or participate in local politics? Because, came the response, women are not educated. Because it was not part of the local “custom.” Because women are expected to work in the fields and fulfill household duties, not participate in community discussion or ascend to positions of leadership. Because, as Walter later wrote, “women are more often than not intimidated into silence.”
S
ongolo explained that greater participation by women would produce equilibrium and promote the village’s development. If a person is competent to hold office, he explained, it should not matter whether the candidate was a man or a woman. He also encouraged everyone to carefully scrutinize a candidate’s platform, and not give their votes to “empty promises.”
Because unemployment is a problem all across South Kivu, Songolo suggested that men could volunteer to do housework two days a week. This would allow their wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers time to receive a better education and become more active in elections and in community forums. This suggestion caused a collective murmur in the room. Men doing housework? Women in leadership? This challenged local customs and norms. There was quite a bit of discussion, and many of the men shook their heads in disagreement. In the end, the seminar agreed that women should be given a better education, and that men should give a certain amount of freedom to their wives and daughters to participate in the electoral process. As Walter wrote, “you have to start somewhere.” Back
Campaign
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Arche d’Alliance hopes to organize almost 30 Committees of Mediation and Reconciliation (CMCs) throughout the Haut Plateau, in its campaign to bring the rule of law into the war-affected region above Uvira. The program has set three main goals:- Produce information about CMCs that can be used to promote the model more widely among villages;
- Expand the scope, number, and impact of the CMCs in the Haut Plateau, to around 4,000 civilians in seven villages (Sange, Lubarika, Makobola, Bijombo, Livungi, Uvira, and Fizi).
- Build a network and constituency for the CMC model in the region and internationally, which can generate support and resources for CMCs.
- The campaign will also draw on other activities by Arche that aimed at protecting civilians, the work of several other dedicated Congolese advocates who work around Uvira.
How the CMCs Work
CMCs function as alternative "courts" for settling local disputes and assisting refugees and internally displaced persons in underserved areas. Peace Fellow Walter James visited a meeting of one CMC in the village of Livungi, on August 3, 2009.
The Livungi CMC has around ten members, including local municipal leaders, prominent local women, a representative from the FARDC and the police, and other notable community and tribal leaders. Their job is to resolve minor disputes, such as property, harvests, debts, inheritances, and domestic quarrels. Any individual can bring a grievance to the CMC, which will then investigate and render a non-binding decision. If one or both of the parties declines to accept the decision, the CMC will pass the case off to Arche d’Alliance to be heard in court in Uvira.The CMC in Livungi was established in 2006 and attracts villagers from about 30 kilometers away. It is managed by Givernal Twaibu, a local Arche d’Alliance inqueteur. Givernal who told Walter that the CMC had heard 80 cases since the beginning of the year. “Nine times out of ten parties agree to the decision of the CMC. People in Congo are not opposed to well-reasoned conflict resolution. It is just that structures that facilitate such resolutions have long been absent.”
Protecting Women
CMCs are required to have several woman representatives, so they provide balance and justice for women. “Respecting women’s rights is very important,” said Livungi CMC member Nestorine Seremba, a nurse at a local dispensaire, “In Congo, the woman is the center of the family.”One of those who appealed to the Livungi CMC is Zawadi (left), a Rwandan. At the age of 19, Zawadi was given in marriage as the second wife to a much older man. They fled into the Eastern DRC in 1994, following the genocide in Rwanda. After her husband died and left her with two children, the two sons of her former husband, by his first wife, seized most of the family’s land. They argued that as a Rwandan and a refugee, she was not entitled to more.
By this time, Zawadi was 30 years old and a widow. She faced many obstacles as a refugee, a woman, a member of an ethnic minority, and a second wife. Also, she did not have the means to travel to Uvira and file a case in court. So she appealed to the Livungi CMC.
In July, Zawadi and one of the brothers were called before an arbitration council, set up by the Livungi Center (right). The council members asked many questions. Zawadi’s voice trembled a little as she described how her and her children were chased from their home by her husband’s family. After many questions, the committee members agreed that the two brothers had not given Zawadi enough land to grow enough food for herself and her children. They told one of the sons that he was in the wrong, as he had not considered the impact on Zawadi’s children. The fact that the Committee members were important figures in the community, trained in civil rights, made it more likely that the sons would respect their decision.
Assisting Returning Refugees
Arche d’Alliance also uses CMCs to help returning refugees secure documentation. During Walter’s visit to the Livungi CMC, a group arrived from Katubota, a small village 10 km away, to collect birth certificates for their children (left). One refugee, Jean Mashaho, explained that it would have been very difficult for these villagers to get certificates without assistance from Arche. They would have had to travel to Uvira, fill out forms, pay fees, and wait for the notoriously slow Congolese bureaucracy.Peace Fellow Ned Meerdink was also impressed by Arche’s work on behalf of returning refugees. When Ned arrived in Uvira for AP, in September 2008, the refugee crisis was showing signs of improvement, and refugees were returning from years abroad in camps in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania.
Ned accompanied a team from Arche d’Alliance to villages near the border with Burundi. Arche had arranged for Congolese magistrates to help some recently-returned refugees to prove their Congolese nationality, and request state identification documents for the first time. Most of the refugees had been gone for about a decade. Most of the children under 10 had been born abroad in the camps, and spoke Kirundi (the language of the Burundi camps) rather than Swahili.
Their cases were heard all morning and afternoon. “Until they receive their official Congolese documents, they will remain extremely vulnerable and unable to move to new places or cross the border,” wrote Ned. “This becomes a significant problem because many have families that are still in Burundi. They are also unable to benefit from services that are available in Burundi but not in Eastern Congo, such as good hospitals or well-stocked markets and drug stores. It is hard to register for school, receive medical care, or even report violations without proper identification.”
Nuts of Peace
(From the blogs of Walter James). Arche’d’Alliance is seeking to strengthen civic participation in villages by forming local groups that are known as “nuts of peace” (noyaux de paix). Fifty per cent of the members are women.
Peace Fellow Walter James attended one meeting in the village of Makobola, in June 2009. Makobola lies on the border between Uvira and Fizi, and was the target for a ferocious attacked by Banyamulenge rebels in March of 1998. Today, FARDC soldiers are present, but Burundian rebels and Mai-Mai militia regularly make forays into the town. It is in this sort of atmosphere that Arche is trying to build respect for the law.
On the day that Walter visited Makobola, Arche d’Alliance had sent the supervisor of the noyaux program, Masumbuko Songolo, to give a community seminar on women’s participation in the electoral process. Most of his audience were women (left).Songolo started out by giving a brief summary of the last election in the Congo (2006). He pointed out that 55% of those who voted were women, and that four of the candidates for president had been women. Articles 11-17 of the Congolese Constitution specifically concern women. Yet there were no women in provincial leadership in Uvira and only one woman in the Fizi provincial leadership.
Why did women not run for office in these parts or participate in local politics? Because, came the response, women are not educated. Because it was not part of the local “custom.” Because women are expected to work in the fields and fulfill household duties, not participate in community discussion or ascend to positions of leadership. Because, as Walter later wrote, “women are more often than not intimidated into silence.”
S
ongolo explained that greater participation by women would produce equilibrium and promote the village’s development. If a person is competent to hold office, he explained, it should not matter whether the candidate was a man or a woman. He also encouraged everyone to carefully scrutinize a candidate’s platform, and not give their votes to “empty promises.”Because unemployment is a problem all across South Kivu, Songolo suggested that men could volunteer to do housework two days a week. This would allow their wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers time to receive a better education and become more active in elections and in community forums. This suggestion caused a collective murmur in the room. Men doing housework? Women in leadership? This challenged local customs and norms. There was quite a bit of discussion, and many of the men shook their heads in disagreement. In the end, the seminar agreed that women should be given a better education, and that men should give a certain amount of freedom to their wives and daughters to participate in the electoral process. As Walter wrote, “you have to start somewhere.” Back