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Systematically and specifically including the mitigation of civilian impact in the planning
and implementation of all military operations. Where military action is taken, every
effort must be made, in accordance with international humanitarian law, to mitigate the
impact of operations on civilians. In the current circumstances, that implies that any
military operations should be jointly planned with MONUC and executed with
independent oversight and reporting, to ensure specific and systematic provision is made
for vulnerable groups. Ensuring this mitigation should be consistently prioritized in
MONUC’s mandate over supporting the disarmament of rebel groups. Protecting
civilians from sexual and other forms of violence must become central to the planning
and conduct of all military operations (for instance by anticipating reprisal attacks by
rebel forces against the population) and may imply favoring strategies of containment
over more offensive approaches. In the medium term, training of FARDC officers and
soldiers in such mitigation must be a core part of defense reform.
3.
The Congolese security services and MONUC must ensure that their protective
deployments are tailored to local realities.
Analysis of the Panzi Hospital dataset suggests that the majority of sexual assaults take place
away from the radius of most deterrent action by national and international protection actors – in
homes, at night, in fields and in the bush, and on minor roads. Such threats are impossible to
guard against entirely, yet in view of the scale of the violence it is essential that protection actors
use every means at their disposal to respond. The Congolese security services and MONUC
should improve the responsiveness of existing civilian protection measures to known threats, by:
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Stepping up direct interaction with communities through increased MONUC deployment
of civilian protection specialists, including outside major towns. Enhanced
communication with communities on their protection needs is essential for determining
where and how protective action can be most effective, yet UN peacekeepers very often
maintain little or no contact with the people they are intended to protect. This is largely
due to a lack of understanding of the context and of the protection role among MONUC
troops on the ground. Under-resourcing means joint protection teams (JPTs) carry out
short-term missions, leaving little opportunity for the follow-up that is required for
sustained impact and the majority of civilian staff remain based in Kinshasa or larger
towns, not at field level. The UN should urgently deploy more civilian specialists to the
substantive sections of MONUC in field locations in order to ensure the sustained
presence of civilian expertise alongside military contingents. This deployment should
occur in conjunction with a monitoring and reporting system in which civilian
recommendations are systematically taken on board within the military command. These
additional specialists should be deployed to extend the coverage and duration of JPT
support to contingents, and specifically to work with communities to devise strategies to
protect civilians.
•
Expanding early warning systems. In Kiwanja and Nyanzale, MONUC has established a
system of regular communication with community leaders to increase responsiveness to
security threats. In other areas, various units have provided communities with emergency
response phone numbers, civilian staff (including JPTs) have facilitated security meetings
with communities to discuss protection needs and feasibility, and contingents have