Decayed, decimated, usurped and inadequate: the challenge of finding justice through formal mechanisms in the DR Congo 1

At the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, participants in the Peace and Reconciliation Commission debated prospects for prosecutions in the DRC extensively. Among the various arguments they presented were that prosecutions were integral to efforts to combat impunity, they would act as a deterrent against similar crimes in future, and that proceeding with prosecutions would provide the basis for the possibility of a realistic, national reconciliation process. Justice, in other words, would be an integral part of creating a sustainable peace.