Institute for War & Peace Reporting (London)
10 July 2009
(Page 2 of 3)
But Perdomo said it is not a matter of calling by phone to relate a story, "It is about bringing people together to have a dialogue, and you need to pay transportation, meals and accommodation."
Each outreach activity in the DRC costs approximately 750-800 dollars, including renting a venue, hiring equipment, and paying for transport, accommodation and meals for participants.
The ICC also pays local community radio stations to broadcast its audio update about court proceedings. "We pay them to broadcast our materials, because we understand they have to live on something," Perdomo said.
"You try to be as creative as possible, and expand the funds you have so that you have an impact in what you are doing."
"WRONG TARGET"
But Congolese journalists are critical of some of this creative thinking, and say some outreach activities focus on the wrong people in the wrong regions.
In May an event, called No to the use of child soldiers, was organised in Kinshasa. Children recited poetry and performed ballet, and actors and singers were drafted in to raise the event's profile.
Thomas d'Aquin Moustapha from North Kivu said Kinshasa was not the right place for such an event., "[It] should be organised directly in the provinces affected by the armed conflict and where the recruitment of child soldiers is a reality."
Perdomo said the ICC had wanted to hold an event in Bunia, but it was not possible because of internal problems in schools. She stressed it was important to raise awareness in Kinshasa, where the country's political direction is determined.
Those in the Kivus say the absence of on-the-ground activities is causing victims to lose faith in the court.
Evariste Mabruki, president of an NGO from Goma, says that "lacking a field office in North Kivu and lacking information about the ICC, victims do not know anymore whom to turn to", and ignorance about the ICC has led to a lack of interest among victims.
Odinkalu says that if the ICC is to be credible, it needs victims and host communities to trust and take it seriously, "Speaking about the situation and locations that I know, this is not presently the case."
EARLY START
Mariana Pena from human rights group FIDH is disappointed that outreach did not start earlier in the CAR, "It has been two years now and one person has been arrested, but the number of activities is extremely low.
"It is a key issue in the CAR and was also a problem in the DRC. If you don't start early with outreach, misunderstandings start circulating and it is difficult to counter these perceptions later."
In March, Marie-Edith Douzima, a central African lawyer representing victims in the Bemba trial, told IWPR that central Africans are growing impatient, "Last year we worked together with the ICC to outline strategies for informing people in our country. But they went back to The Hague and we didn't see any results."
Lucile Mazangue, a member of the association of women lawyers in the CAR, said that when the ICC office was first set up they organised seminars and broadcast material on the radio, but after a while they stopped.
"[Soon] we noticed the ICC did not do anything. So the association asked why the ICC didn't engage with us so that we could explain it to the people," he said.
Pena said this is causing disappointment and frustration, "When someone from the court comes, there are planning sessions but no follow-up. People then don't want to hear about the ICC because they don't believe anything about it anymore."
Marcel Nboula, from Le Citoyen newspaper, told IWPR in March, "We never receive information about what is happening at the court. We search the internet and republish [articles] but don't get any news from the ICC. We used to get information from Goungaye Wanfiyo [a CAR lawyer who was killed in a car accident in December] until he died."
Since these interviews were conducted, sources in Bangui say outreach activities have been ramped up, including awareness-raising workshops around the city and nearby provinces, during which videos are shown and question and answer sessions held about the court.
Two training sessions have been hosted for 72 journalists in Bangui, and in July, the court will start broadcasting a radio programme called Ask the Court.
The programmes are in Sango, the national language, and respond to frequently asked questions. Each of the 13 episodes will be broadcast three times on seven different radio stations in the capital.
The country has no national radio station and virtually no media outside Bangui, meaning that central Africans away from the capital are largely cut off from information.
"We have pleaded for the court to give information in Bangui for [details about the court] to be known," said lawyer Celestin N'Zala. "But people in the provinces do not know about the ICC. A lot needs to be done. People need to be sensitised so they know."
KENYAN VIOLENCE
Kenyan journalists like documentary maker Maina Kiai say that while the ICC considers opening an investigation into post-election violence committed in December 2007, it should engage and inform people about whether the crimes fit ICC's mandate, and what factors influence their decision making.
"In a situation where Kenyans are waiting with baited breath, it would not hurt the ICC to keep informing us and answering the questions we have," Maina Kiai said.
While the prosecutor's office has been helpful in organising interviews, Kai said the same is not true for other organs of the court, "It would help if the ICC would consider how hard and difficult it is to access The Hague from Africa."
Justice Richard Goldstone, former chief prosecutor for the Rwanda and Yugoslav war crimes tribunals, said that the media is "the most effective way to explain what is happening in the court, and counter any negative rumours or misconceptions. If the court doesn't do this, then it will lose an essential ally".
Silvana Arbia, the ICC's registrar, agreed that "the role of journalists is very important for justice", but stressed that reaching journalists is not always easy.
"In villages we have journalists who do not know how to receive information. We try to reach every journalist who is interested, and also to outreach and show other journalists and urge them to be interested in the ICC," she said.
In support of this, 27 listening clubs have been set up in villages around Ituri, and given radio sets and mini-recorders to enable communities to listen to news about the court, and send back their taped questions.
Perdomo hopes to roll out the idea in the Kivus, "We give them telephone cards and the equipment to install the club. This helps us cover areas that are not easily accessible on the ground."
But Enack Makunda, NGO coordinator in Goma, said communicating with people through radio is not enough, "Many people will get the message, but will not be convinced. There is no interaction. People cannot discuss with the radio on the programme it is broadcasting.
"Therefore, it is good to develop grassroots activities which can enable the community to discuss more points which were broadcast."
Perdomo acknowledged it is not the same as engaging people face-to-face, "We need to engage the people not once and leave, but meet with the same group several times and update them, and let them know the court cares."
NGO ROLE
As well as ramping up their work with journalists, NGOs are calling for the ICC to engage with them more actively, because they can reach parts of the country the court cannot.
"The ICC office [in the CAR] should be reinforced so that a wider awareness campaign can be done, so that simple people in the street can say something about the ICC. The ICC should work with local NGOs. If we work in collaboration we can tell people about the ICC," Mazangue said.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
