A/HRC/4/7 page 11 October 2004 attack against the Kilwa rebels and was charged with crimes against humanity, murder and looting. The Anvil Mining Congo company and three of its former employees were accused of complicity in war crimes for having “deliberately omitted to withdraw vehicles made available to the 62nd infantry brigade during the counter-attack launched in October 2004 to recapture the town of Kilwa” and for having “knowingly facilitated the commission of war crimes by Illunga Ademar and his men”. The trial is under way. 56. The high crime rate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the disturbing number of offences committed and the impunity, which encourages repeat offences, compound the impotence of the national courts. The judiciary suffers from a severe lack of financial and human resources and does not have the authority to effectively address the serious crimes committed by warlords or high-placed civil servants. Given the powerlessness of the courts, it is necessary to use other legal mechanisms, in particular the International Criminal Court. B. The International Criminal Court: severe limits on the campaign against impunity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 57. On 13 November 2006, the International Criminal Court held preliminary hearings in the trial of the former militia chief of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, whose atrocities committed in Ituri since 1999 had resulted in the death of at least 6,000 people and the displacement of several hundred thousand. He is charged with recruiting and enlisting child soldiers into his militias. 58. It is clear from the foregoing that the International Criminal Court alone cannot try all the crimes and serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over almost a decade, its jurisdiction being limited to acts committed since the entry into force of the Rome Statute (1 July 2002). 59. What is needed, therefore, is a mechanism that would guarantee not only the effective suppression of crimes covered by the Rome Statute committed prior to 1 July 2002 but also the administration of justice and an all-out campaign against impunity. C. Establishment of a special international criminal tribunal or joint criminal chambers 60. In order to combat impunity, which must be done if there is to be peace in the country and further crimes are to be prevented, the independent expert recommends the creation of a special international tribunal for the Democratic Republic of the Congo or, failing that, joint criminal chambers to try crimes committed since 1994, the year specified in United Nations resolutions for serious violations of humanitarian law. 61. Certain measures could be taken to reduce the costs of a special tribunal. It could sit within the country, somewhere near its centre, in order to keep down the costs of transporting defendants and witnesses. The host State could provide premises and defray certain costs; at least half the judges and three quarters of the judicial personnel would be citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and the host State could be responsible for appointing lawyers.