IWPR to Produce New International Justice Radio Show for DRC

In June, the ICC project announced plans to produce a fortnightly radio show – Facing Justice – to be broadcast across DRC.

The 15-minute programme – a joint production with the NGO Search for Common Ground – will be broadcast in Lingala, Swahili and French twice a week throughout the country. Clips of the show will also be placed on the IWPR website to increase people’s access to the material.

“It is very important to give out correct information to establish the impartiality of the ICC in the eyes of the Congolese, because it is not evident that it has that credibility,”
Lena Slachmuijlder, director of Search for Common Ground in the DRC

The team thought up the show after they went to Uganda, Sudan and the DRC to network with journalists and editors. Visiting these countries confirmed that radio was a highly effective medium for disseminating information.

Facing Justice will contain contributions from Hague-based staff, IWPR-trained journalists in DRC, legal experts, political analysts, human rights activists and government representatives. Search for Common Ground staff, meanwhile, plan to monitor listeners and establish focus groups to gauge the show’s impact in the country.

The launch of the show was planned to coincide with the start of the trial of Congolese war crimes suspect Thomas Lubanga on June 23. However, the case against Lubanga is now uncertain after judges ruled on June 13 that prosecutors had abused the rules of collecting evidence, making a fair trial impossible.

Lena Slachmuijlder, director of Search for Common Ground in the DRC, said the programme is important because information on ICC proceedings is limited in the country.

“It is very important to give out correct information to establish the impartiality of the ICC in the eyes of the Congolese, because it is not evident that it has that credibility,” she said.

“The collaboration with IWPR will help us bring out credible voices from the ICC to give information to the people in a regular way, so they can understand what is happening with the trial, and what the constraints and opportunities are with international justice,” she said.