Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I don't know how widely that is known in the situation. Obviously quite a few civil society organizations have been addressing this issue and have certainly also filed briefs on the issue. Women's Initiatives For Gender Justice, which is an international organization based in The

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That's a very important question, and one that we find is quite challenging in the context of DRC. It's very difficult to find local capacity to deliver specific trauma-based counselling in the way that especially these types of victims need. So we're finding that we're actually

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  No. I was working for UNICEF in Ethiopia in 2000-2001, so this would have been the time we were training the peacekeepers.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  You just described it very well in terms of the impact on women and girls. I would also add that men and boys are also impacted by sexual violence in the context of DRC in similar ways, but obviously the way it's carried out is a bit different in terms of the public humiliation,

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you. It's an important question. There are three ways the situation can be referred to the ICC. The first way is that the state party itself can refer a case because they have concerns of their own capacity to be able to carry out investigations, and also to try. In the

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think it's always good to have pressure and partnerships with the government on these kinds of issues. Beyond that, it would be difficult for me to comment on Bosco.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We have heard concerns from victim survivors in eastern Congo about the capacity of the Congolese judiciary processes. I think again this speaks to what I was saying earlier about the need to strengthen capacity of the justice sector in Congo. This is where I think it's very impo

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you. I think we can take the lessons learned from the other international criminal tribunals, such as Rwanda—I lived in Rwanda for three years just after the genocide, so it's one I'm most familiar with—the Cambodia tribunals, the Yugoslavia tribunal, and now Sierra Leone.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In general, or in terms of our support?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We are providing assistance to 82,000 victims, but this would be in both northern Uganda and the DRC, and that's every year, per year, approximately. Of course it's very difficult to have the figures to define victims in the context of DRC, if you're looking specifically for vict

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm not able to comment directly on the program. I know the UN has its own program to train peacekeepers. I know this because I was a trainer for peacekeepers in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The peacekeepers themselves are trained on this issue, in terms of their own behaviour but also

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for your question. There is no doubt that in this type of effort, as I mentioned, it's always challenging to coordinate efforts. I would say that for the trust fund, before we initiate any of our activities, we carry out an assessment. As part of that assessment in a

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Absolutely. You've just described our work. We do have staff who live in the situation. Again, it's very important to have staff there that can monitor the activities, bring the partners together, organize joint program initiatives, refer to each other so our initiatives are lin

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Indeed. We have met with your embassy in The Hague and your ambassador is involved in what's called The Hague working group, which is the group that comes together of the states parties around the International Criminal Court. This is the first time we've been invited to come to

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes.