The crowd gathered around a makeshift open-air courtroom in a village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) one recent morning, watching in silence as judges, prosecutors, lawyers and clerks listened to the defendants.
Craning their necks to get a better look at the trial, many in the audience seemed in awe at witnessing feared soldiers and militia men, dressed in their military outfits, finally facing justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It is a scene that has been repeated across rural areas in eastern DRC, where mobile court hearings have played a key role in bringing some accountability for human rights violations and abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, in particular sexual violence against women and girls.
Under its mandate to protect and promote human rights, UN Human Rights in DRC is assisting national authorities in their efforts to fight impunity, providing technical and logistical support for judicial investigations and proceedings for cases of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.