Christian Hemedi is the Coordinator of the DRC Coalition for the ICC and President of the Association for the Renaissance of Human Rights in the Congo (ARC-ONDH) arc_asbl@yahoo.fr
Beginning in 1998, the Democratic Republic of Congo found itself on the precipice of a war—sometimes referred to as the “African World War”—that would devastate the country and involve more than eight foreign armies. In July of the same year, the Rome Statute was born.

The war which lasted from 1998 to 2003 marked one of the world’s deadliest conflicts since World War II. Crimes of an unspeakable nature were committed. Some 11 years ago, just before the Rome Statute came into existence, Congo’s war victims had no reason to think their cries would someday be heard and their thirst for justice quenched.
By opening its first investigation in Ituri, a remote region some 2.000 km outside of the capital in Kinshasa, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has come to represent hope for victims. The Court represents the hope that never more will mass atrocities go unpunished—and that the rank of the perpetrator and the location of crimes will no longer be an impediment.
As a result, public opinion in Africa is supportive of the Court’s actions despite the hurdles it may face along the road to justice. In the Congo, we have a saying: “The power of justice never surrenders.”

Please Note: This is an unofficial translation by the CICC Secretariat from the original French.