Local justice and security providers in South Kivu: going local to support youth-neighborhood watch-community development groups

Based on field research, this report outlines how in Bukavu, South-Kivu, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo's delivery of justice and security to its citizenry is extremely weak and its institutions and agencies have performed poorly. Responding to rising insecurity and burgeoning crime within Bukavu, educated youths, from universities and secondary schools, created the NGO SAJECEK in 2005, from out of which a neighborhood safety initiative, Forces Vives, has been established. These youth neighborhood watch groups conduct patrols of their communities and marketplaces to prevent and respond to crime and violence. Where they operate, the perception exists that there is a decline in crime because of the activities of SAJECEK-Forces Vives. Furthermore, the greatest contribution that SAJECEK-Forces Vives has made may be with its own membership, increasing their sense of social efficacy. The report recommends that donors support SAJECEK-Forces Vives in a multi-dimensional way, roping together the different facets of the organization's activities and blending community-development initiatives into justice and security efforts. With regards to local justice initiatives the research identified the important role played by local courts. Even though these local courts may be the best means through which residents of South Kivu may have access to justice, donor support for them is problematic given the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo's intention of creating Tribunals of Peace, a hybrid court whose establishment abolishes the legal standing of local courts. At best, donor support for local courts is an intermediate alternative since the roll-out of Tribunals of Peace is a generational undertaking.

The report forms part of a larger Clingendael Conflict Research Unit research project examining the role of non-state actors in security and justice service delivery, and the options for donors to support the delivery of justice and security services through them as part of larger Security Sector Reform programming. The entire project entails a conceptual paper (published in July 2009), three case studies (Colombia, DR Congo and Burundi) and a synthesis report bringing together the most important practical lessons for donors (expected early 2012).