A/HRC/14/22 D. Joint report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo 8. Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 10/33, the Special Rapporteur contributed to the second joint report of seven United Nations experts on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was submitted to the Human Rights Council at its thirteenth session (A/HRC/13/63). The Special Rapporteur noted that limited progress has been made in implementing the recommendations of the previous joint report with regard to the protection of women’s human rights and the promotion of gender equality, and that violence against women remains rampant throughout the country, particularly in the East, where brutal sexual violence continues to be used as a weapon of war by all parties to the conflict. E. Regional consultations 9. The Special Rapporteur actively engaged with civil society organizations through her participation in regional consultations. In November 2009, an Asia-Pacific regional consultation was held in Thailand and, in January 2010, the Special Rapporteur took part in the third African regional consultation in Zambia, which was followed by a national consultation. In March 2010, she attended the first Central American and Caribbean regional consultation, which took place in El Salvador. F. Other activities 10. The Special Rapporteur participated in several conferences and workshops at the invitation of civil society actors, including the KwaZulu Natal Network on Violence against Women, the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers, Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre, the International Center for Transitional Justice, Women Against Violence Europe, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development and the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women. She also participated in a number of conferences in Italy, hosted by Giuristi democratici, and took part in the international conference on violence against women, an important initiative of the Italian Presidency of the Group of 8. She also gave several speeches on violence against women at different universities in South Africa and the United States. 11. The Special Rapporteur also participated in the special event “Engaging philanthropy to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment” of the Economic and Social Council in February 2010. III. Reparations for women subjected to violence A. 1. Conceptual challenges Introduction 12. The notion of a right to reparation is located within the framework of the law of remedies and includes two aspects: procedural and substantive. Procedurally, remedies are the processes by which arguable claims of wrongdoing are heard and decided by competent bodies, whether judicial or administrative. Substantively, remedies consist of the outcomes of the proceedings and, more broadly, the measures of redress granted to victims. The law of remedies can serve both individual and societal goals, the underlying purposes of which include corrective justice, deterrence, retribution and restorative justice. It is the element of GE.10-13109 5