Human rights officers work closely with national authorities and civil societ...

Human rights officers work closely with national authorities and civil society to support national judicial institutions and other accountability mechanisms. Again taking an example from our work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Joint Human Rights Office, through its joint investigation teams, provides direct support to military prosecutors to investigate cases of violations, including by helping them access populations to carry out their investigations and by ensuring judicial follow-up. This support has allowed prosecutors to bring many cases to court that might not otherwise have been pursued, including cases of sexual violence. A recent example of facilitating national efforts for accountability is the arrest of General Jérôme Kakwavu, who was accused of rape and whose file is being transmitted to the high military court of Kinshasa.