A/HRC/30/33 III. Methodology 8. The study was carried out over three months by an OHCHR staff member deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with institutional support provided by a reference group composed of OHCHR, the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) 1 and the United Nations Integrated Office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 9. The study is based on the following methodology:  Inspection of various documents (in particular studies, reports, legislation and programme documents);  Discussions with members of local civil society to gain an understanding of how they interpret the action taken by international organizations;  Submission of questionnaires to the principal actors from the United Nations, government authorities and international NGOs in Kinshasa and the provinces;  E-mail exchanges with stakeholders that are not resident in the Democratic Republic of the Congo;  Observer missions to Bas-Congo (Mbanza-Ngungu, Kimbemba and Lamba) on income-generating activities and assistance to returned migrants; to Katanga (Kalemie and Lubumbashi) on governance with respect to the exploitation of natural resources and the protection of indigenous populations; to North Kivu (Goma) on protection of civilians, combating sexual violence and care for children demobilized by armed groups and victims of sexual violence; and to South Kivu (Bukavu) on holistic care for victims of sexual violence. Visits were made to the legal clinic at Mungunga, the War Child UK helpline centre in North Kivu and the Panzi Foundation in South Kivu. 10. The following difficulties were encountered in conducting the study:  Lack of responses to requests for meetings and to questionnaires from some key focal points;  Unavailability of documentation and of comprehensive detailed data on the action taken by the international community throughout the period under consideration;  Lack of institutional memory because of certain international actors having moved elsewhere;  Inaccessibility of some locations in the west of the country (Equateur, Manie ma, Kasaï) due to the halt in air traffic following the gradual withdrawal of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO);  The relatively short length of time allocated to carry out the study. IV. Main interventions by the international community 11. Since 1996, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has suffered a series of wars that have caused political instability and insecurity, economic failure and a __________________ 1 6/19 UNJHRO was established in 2008 following the merger of the OHCHR office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (created in 1996) and the human rights component of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. GE.15-14279