[4] The mapping exercise began in 2008, with 33 staff working on the project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including Congolese and international human rights experts.
In May 2007, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon approved the terms of reference of the mapping exercise following a series of consultations among relevant UN agencies and partners and with the Congolese government.
Over 1,500 documents relating to human rights violations committed during this period were gathered and analysed with a view to establishing an initial chronology by region of the main violent incidents reported.
Consequently, information on the identity of the alleged perpetrators of some of the crimes listed does not appear in the report but is held in a confidential project database submitted to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
[10] The operating methods and exact form of such a court “should be decided on and specified in detail by consulting the actors concerned, as well as the victims affected...” A mechanism of this kind should also – among many other things – apply international criminal law in relation to international crimes, including “the responsibility of superiors for the acts committed by their subordinates;” it should “exclude the jurisdiction of the military courts in this area;” and should “have jurisdiction over anyone who has committed these crimes, whether they are nationals or non-nationals, civilians or military personnel.” (Paragraph 1052 / 1054) Declaring that the Congolese people have a “right to the truth on all the serious violations of human rights,” the report suggests the establishment of a new, non-judicial “truth commission” that can help to determine institutional, political, military and other responsibilities; preserve evidence; identify the perpetrators of atrocities; recommend compensation measures and institutional reforms; and provide individual victims with a broader platform in which to air their grievances and concerns.
[11] Given the huge number of victims, the report says a comprehensive and creative approach to the issue of reparation is clearly required, and notes that the Congolese government should be the first to contribute.
However, "the apparent systematic and widespread attacks described in this report reveal a number of inculpatory elements that, if proven before a competent court, could be characterised as crimes of genocide.
The most contentious aspect of the report referred to the possibility that the armed forces of Rwanda and their local allies may have committed acts, which could constitute crimes of genocide against ethnic Hutu civilians fleeing the country in fear of reprisal.
The apparently systematic nature of these violations suggests that the numerous deaths cannot be attributed to the hazards of both first and second congo wars or seen as equating to collateral damage.
[20] Numerous serious attacks on the physical or psychological integrity of members of the group were also committed, with a very high number of Hutus shot, raped, burnt or beaten.
The hunt lasted for months, resulting in the deaths of an unknown number of people subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading living conditions, without access to food or medication.
At the time of the incidents covered by this report, the Hutu population in Zaire, including refugees from Rwanda, constituted an ethnic group as defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The crimes committed in particular in Rutshuru (30 October 1996) and Mugogo (18 November 1996), in North Kivu, highlight the specific targeting of the Hutus, since people who were able to persuade the aggressors that they belonged to another ethnic group were released just before the massacres.
Hundreds of people of Hutu origin are thus thought to have been arrested at a barrier erected in November 1996 in Ngwenda, in the Rutshuru territory, and subsequently executed by being beaten with sticks in a place called Kabaraza.
Paragraph 514: Several incidents listed in this report point to circumstances and facts from which a court could infer the intention to destroy the Hutu ethnic group in the DRC in part, if these were established beyond all reasonable doubt.
The extensive use of edged weapons (primarily hammers) and the systematic massacre of survivors, including women and children, after the camps had been taken show that the numerous deaths cannot be attributed to the hazards of war or seen as equating to collateral damage.
Paragraph 516: The massacres in Mbandaka and Wendji, committed on 13 May 1997 in Équateur Province, over 2,000 kilometres west of Rwanda, were the final stage in the hunt for Hutu refugees that had begun in eastern Zaire, in North and South Kivu, in October 1996.
In light of the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, and the repetition of crimes within the territory of the DRC, there is a manifest urgency for justice and security service reform.
The members of the Mapping Team were able to observe the constant fear on the part of affected populations that history would repeat itself, especially when yesterday's attackers are returning in positions that enable them to commit new crimes with complete impunity.
The Government of Rwanda stated that “The Draft Mapping Report addresses only a fraction of a complex history, and ignores publicly available information that seriously undermines its findings.