Co-chaired by prominent Congolese human rights activist Julienne Lusenge and Sir Howard Morrison KC, one of the UK’s foremost specialists in international criminal and humanitarian law, the Council will advise two Congolese institutions – the National Fund for Reparations for Victims of Sexual Violence (FONAREV) and the Interministerial Commission for Victim Assistance and Reform Support (CIA-VAR) as they work towards transitional justice for the people of the DRC.
Examining the findings of the 2010 UN mapping report and recent human rights violations in the ongoing conflict in Eastern DRC, the Council will provide expert insight on the legal and diplomatic processes required to secure formal recognition of atrocities committed over the last three decades, and accountability for their perpetrators.
It is made up of leading figures from across international law, diplomacy and academia.
Alongside its co-chairs, the Council’s members are:
- Patrick Hayford, former Ghanaian career diplomat and Director of the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa.
- Stephen Rapp, former United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues.
- Nina Jørgensen, British-Norwegian international judge at The Hague and leading academic at the University of Southampton.
- Pascal Turlan, French expert in international criminal justice and accountability, and former official in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
The Council held its inaugural meeting on Monday 13th July 2026. During the meeting, members were presented with an update on FONAREV and CIA-VAR’s work – specifically their Plus Jamais Seuls; Nos Voix Pour Elles; Ne Pas Oublier advocacy campaigns – as well as their programmes on access to transitional justice, urgent provisional measures in areas still affected by conflict, and rehabilitation initiatives for victims where violence has had lasting impacts.
At UNGA 80 in September 2025, President Tshisekedi used his keynote address to call on UN member states to recognise a “silent genocide” in the DRC over the past three decades. He called for an independent international commission of inquiry to help “break the cycle of impunity”, and for UN sanctions against the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the east of the country.
In the initial meeting, Julienne Lusenge echoed this domestic sentiment, stating that “the first mission of the Council will be to break the silence”.
Last month, the DRC filed a petition in the ICJ accusing Rwanda of breaking the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. The Council members also discussed this, noting that although the Council is independent and separate from this process, it will play a key role advising FONAREV and CIA-VAR on navigating the proceedings as they progress.
Director General of FONAREV, Patrick Fata Makunga:
“The formation of the Council for the Examination of Atrocities in the DRC marks a further major step in the quest for truth, justice and reparation for the victims of grave crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Following the government’s filing before the International Court of Justice, the Council is more important than ever; it will provide vital guidance to FONAREV and CIA-VAR as we navigate the ICJ process ahead and any other legal or diplomatic avenues. With the guidance of these eminent international figures, we reaffirm that lasting peace cannot be built without recognition of suffering, responsibility and full reparation for victims.”
Executive Coordinator of CIA-VAR, François Kakese Kimaza:
“The establishment of this Council for the Examination of Atrocities in the DRC ahead of the third annual Genocost Day reflects the shared mission of FONAREV and CIA-VAR to bring before the international community the voice of victims and the demand for truth. We are honoured by the calibre of expertise this Council brings together, spanning human rights, international law and diplomacy. For CIA-VAR, this step is part of an essential struggle for the international recognition, accountability and reparation of grave crimes committed on our territory, in direct alignment with the national strategy of which CIA-VAR ensures the technical implementation.”
Co-chairs of the Council for the Examination of Atrocities in the DRC, Julienne Lusenge and Sir Howard Morrison KC:
“For the last three decades, atrocities have been inflicted on the Congolese people at a scale reminiscent of the darkest incidents in human history.
“And yet, the stories of victims and survivors – their names and suffering – for too long have been ignored.
“Perpetrators of war crimes were able to act with impunity, shrouded by a veil of apathy amongst the international community who, for 30 years, have failed to provide recourse to formal recognition and justice.
“We are immensely proud to be leading this joint international effort to help find a path to transitional justice for the Congolese people.”
Julienne Lusenge, Co-Chair
Julienne Lusenge is one of Africa’s most prominent advocates for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, with over four decades of frontline experience in the DRC.
She is co-founder and President of Solidarité Féminine pour la Paix et le Développement Intégral (SOFEPADI), a coalition of forty women’s organisations, and founder and Executive Director of the Fonds pour les Femmes Congolaises (FFC), which channels international donor resources to more than 250 women-led local organisations across fourteen DRC provinces.
Her work has directly supported the prosecution of over 800 perpetrators of gender-based violence and war crimes, and SOFEPADI’s medical centre has treated more than 7,500 survivors.
In 2020 the World Health Organization appointed her co-chair of an independent commission investigating sexual exploitation and abuse by humanitarian workers during the 2018 Ebola outbreak in the DRC.
Her recognition includes the US State Department’s International Women of Courage Award (2021), the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity (2021) and inclusion in TIME’s 100 Most Influential People (2024).
Sir Howard Morrison KC, Co-Chair
Sir Howard Morrison KC is one of the United Kingdom’s foremost specialists in international criminal and humanitarian law, with a legal career spanning nearly five decades.
He began as a UK barrister before serving as a Senior Circuit Judge and Senior Justice of the UK Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus, then as UK judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, where he presided over the trial of Radovan Karadžić, and subsequently as UK judge at the International Criminal Court, serving two terms as President of the Appeals Division.
In recognition of his services to international law he was appointed OBE, CBE and KCMG. He holds academic appointments as Visiting Professor at Northumbria University, Honorary Professor at Leicester University, an honorary doctorate of law, and is a Senior Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at Cambridge University.
He currently serves as the UK’s Independent Advisor to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General and President of the Court of Appeal of the British Indian Ocean Territories, training judges in Iraq and Ukraine on war crimes cases and lecturing worldwide on international criminal and humanitarian law. He is a special advisor to the UK Ministry of Defence on the laws of armed conflict and a Master of the Bench of Gray’s Inn.
Patrick Hayford
Patrick Hayford is a retired Ghanaian career diplomat with five decades of experience in international diplomacy mainly on multilateral issues.
Between 2006 and 2012 he served at the United Nations headquarters Secretariat in New York as the Director , Office of the Special Adviser on Africa before which time he was the Director for Africa and Regional Affairs in the Executive Office of United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan (1999-2005 ).
Ambassador Hayford served between 1996 and 1997 as Ghana’s Acting High Commissioner (Ambassador), to the U.K. and then as Ghana’s High Commissioner (Ambassador) to South Africa, Mauritius, Lesotho, the Comoros, and the Seychelles (1997-1999).
His career in international affairs began in September, 1974 . He also served tours of duty in New York and in Cairo. At the Accra headquarters of Ghana’s Foreign Ministry he held multiple responsibilities including head of the International Organizations and Conferences Department.
Stephen Rapp
Stephen J. Rapp is a leading figure in international accountability, having served as the fourth United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, leading the Office of Global Criminal Justice from 2009 to 2015 under President Obama.
He previously served as Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) from 2007 to 2009 and Chief of Prosecutions at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) from 2001 to 2007.
At the ICTR, Rapp led the prosecution in the Nahimana case, securing the first convictions of media figures for direct and public incitement to genocide, and he also led the prosecution at the SCSL of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. His prosecutorial approach is recognised for its victim-centred strategy and for advancing the recognition of sexual and gender-based violence as an international crime.
Since 2015 he has held a portfolio of academic and advisory roles, including Global Prevention Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Senior Fellow at Georgetown Law’s Center on National Security, Fellow of Practice of Oxford’s Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict, Distinguished Fellow at the Hague Institute for Global Justice, and Chair of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA).
Nina Jørgensen
Professor Nina Jørgensen is a British and Norwegian academic and sitting international judge whose career bridges scholarship and international criminal justice.
She has served as Professor of Public International Law at the University of Southampton since 2019 and as a Judge on the Appeals Chamber of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague since 2020. She is a barrister in England and Wales, called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1999.
Her career of approximately twenty-five years spans international criminal tribunals including the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the ICTY and the ICTR, alongside academic posts at Leiden University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Southampton. She obtained her doctorate from the University of Oxford and has published widely in international law, including two monographs, an edited collection and numerous peer-reviewed articles.
Pascal Turlan
Pascal Turlan is a French international lawyer with over 25 years of experience in international criminal justice, international human rights law, and international cooperation. A leading expert in international criminal law, he has dedicated his career to advancing justice and accountability on the global stage.
Based in The Hague, he spent nearly two decades at the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), rising from Situation Analyst to Adviser and Head of Judicial Cooperation, and began working on the Democratic Republic of the Congo situation as early as 2003.
Earlier in his career, he played a pivotal role in establishing international justice mechanisms, including working at the French Ministry of Justice and the Sierra Leone Ministry of Justice, where he contributed to the setting up of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and in humanitarian contexts, collaborating with Médecins Sans Frontières and Médecins du Monde.
In recent years, he has served as Legal and Programme Director for Project Expedite Justice’s Ukraine programme. Currently, he combines high-level consultancy work on accountability and justice sector reform with organizations such as the International Development Law Organization, the EU Pravo-Justice project, and Truth Hounds International, with academic roles at Sciences Po Paris and France’s École Nationale de la Magistrature.
Africa Fact: Ngazargamu, the capital city of Kanem-Borno, became one of the largest cities in the seventeenth century world. By 1658 AD, the metropolis, according to an architectural scholar housed “about quarter of a million people”. It had 660 streets. Many were wide and unbending, reflective of town planning.
Sun Leo
A new teacher enters a classroom full of students.
The teacher stands at the front of the room and greets the students, \”Good morning, class.\”
None of the students say anything. One boy at the back of the classroom stands up, \”Good morning, teacher.\”
Puzzled, the teacher carries on. The following morning, the same thing happens. Day after day goes by, and it\’s the same routine.
One morning after greeting the class and the same student standing and greeting, the teacher has had enough, \”Why is it, that every time I walk in and greet the entire room, only you stand up and greet me?\”
In the most broken English, the boy replies, \”Because I are the only one here, what\’s name are Klass\”
Prometheus
Van der Merwe is approached by SANRAL one day who want to build a new highway through his donkey farm. Van is really concerned with how his donkeys can get from one side of the farm to the other without having to cross the highway and risk being injured or killed. He is promised that they will build bridges the highway so that his donkeys can cross under the highway. Van agrees and gives them the go-ahead.
The highway is built and a year later the same rep goes to the farm to go see how Van and his donkeys are. He eventually finds Van under one of these bridges chipping away at the roof of the tunnel with a hammer and chisel.
\”Mnr Van de Merwe, what are you doing damaging the highway bridge?\”