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Héritiers
de la Justice
is a congolese (formerly Zaïrean) non
governmental human rights organisation,
specialized in
matters concerning human rights and peace promotion
in the Great Lakes Region. Founded in 1991 by three
people touched by the repressive measures that
civilians underwent during the President Mobutu’s
dictatorship regime, Héritiers de la Justice
was absolutely convinced that people were ignorant
of their rights that they needed to know. Thus, it
determined its working approaches in two ways:
promote and protect human rights in the Great Lakes
Region in general, and in the province of South Kivu
in particular.
As a protestant churches
service for human rights and peace, Héritiers de
la Justice is an organisation related to the
Protestant Church of Congo. For that reason the 13
Protestant Communities operating in the province of
South Kivu are automatically honor members of
Héritiers de la Justice. Among them let us cite:
Pentecostal Churches Community in Congo (known as
CEPAC), Baptist Churches Community in Congo (CBCA),
Methodist Churches Community in Congo,etc.
In 1993, Héritiers de
la Justice had already created 20 grassroots
organisations namely Committee of Defense and
Mediation (CMD) in the territories of Kalehe,
Mwanga, Walungu, Uvira and in the town of Bukavu.
These CMDs consitute the bridge between the staff of
Héritiers de la Justice and the grassroots. Their
members were trained, by Héritiers de la Justice in
human rights defense and mediation skills. They
enquire about the human rights violations in their
respective areas as well as facilitate the harmony
and mutual acceptance of different communities
living together.
In the very same year,
Héritiers de la Justice supported burundian
refugee children who fled the war to Bukavu. A
psychologic and sanitary project was thus
implemented.
With the Rwandan
genocide of 1994, Héritiers de la Justice
accompanied rwandan children refugee by creating a
caring center in which both tutsi and hutu children
lived for months.
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