The bill exempting victims of sexual violence from various legal costs continues to divide Congolese. On June 9, civil society associations and the media involved in gender issues organized a march in support of the work to review and adopt the said bill. Adopted by the National Assembly on May 18, this initiative was submitted to the upper house of parliament for a second review.
The organizers of the support march sent their request to the Senate office to schedule the examination of the bill before the end of the current session. They also unanimously encouraged honorable senators to pass this bill.
The requirement of court fees is one of the main obstacles to the access of victims of sexual violence to justice. Survivors are often silenced and the persistence of this scourge goes unpunished. This bill, brought to parliament by MP Juvénal Munubo, is a major step forward in the fight against sexual violence.
The organizations that took part in the support march also express their thanks to the national deputies for the unanimous adoption of this bill. They also call on the President of the Republic to pay particular attention to this parliamentary initiative when submitting it for promulgation for “the safeguarding of the honor and dignity of Congolese women”.
This bill, if passed, will allow survivors of sexual violence to access legal proceedings without having to shell out funds, thus putting the law on their side