Documentation practices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
From Justice Visions by Human Rights Centre - UGent
September 4, 2025 · 28 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the challenges and possibilities of documenting human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with Dr. Valérie Arnould.
In this new episode of the mini-series on documentation practices, we turn to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Together with Dr. Valérie Arnould, Legal and Policy Advisor on transitional justice with the international NGO Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF), we explore the challenges and possibilities of documenting human rights violations in a country marked by protracted violence, impunity, and ongoing transitional justice initiatives. Valérie reflects on ASF’s multi-layered documentation practices, emphasizing that documentation forms the foundation of transitional justice. She explains that its value extends far beyond supporting trials or reparations mechanisms such as the relatively new Congolese National Reparations Fund ( FONAREV ). It also serves to counter misinformation, resist denial, and make visible under-recognised forms of victimisation—such as enforced disappearances. The key question in our work is how do you engage in documentation that is truly meaningful to the victims, and in which they can have a direct stake in shaping the record of violations. Furthermore, Valérie sheds light on the practical and ethical dilemmas of documenting in an ongoing…
People in this episode
Guest: Dr Valérie Arnould
Topics covered
- documentation practices
- human rights violations
- transitional justice
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
Keywords
- impunity
- enforced disappearances
- open-source intelligence
- FONAREV
Mentioned in this episode
Places: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC
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