A/HRC/42/32 child victims), Mai-Mai combatants (27 women and 5 child victims) and members of the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (14 women and 6 child victims) has increased. Cases of sexual slavery typically involve the abduction of a person, who is then placed at the disposal of one or more members of an armed group. This situation can last for days, months or years. The Joint Office has also documented an increase in cases of sexual violence in Maniema province. In Ituri province, the violence has significantly decreased following the demobilization of combatants from the Force de résistance patriotique de l’Ituri. The trend has remained unchanged in the Kasai region, where rapes are committed mainly by members of the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and police officers. 53. Progress has been made in the fight against impunity for sexual violence thanks to certain judicial developments. On 26 July 2018, in Bukavu, in South Kivu, the Military High Court upheld, on appeal, the life sentences imposed on former provincial deputy Frédéric Batumike and his co-accused,8 including for crimes against humanity involving rape, in a case in which dozens of children had been abducted and raped in Kavumu between 2013 and 2016. On 27 November 2018, in Goma, in North Kivu, the Operational Military Court opened, after several postponements, the trial of Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, former commander of the armed group Nduma défense du Congo, who had been indicted, among other offences, for war crimes involving rape and sexual slavery committed in Walikale territory in 2010. 54. Nonetheless, victims of sexual violence continue to face many obstacles to access to justice. Even when ordered by courts, reparations are limited to the payment of damages and are enforced only very rarely. Having been considered by the Senate, the bill on assistance for victims of sexual violence had been transmitted to the National Assembly at the time of this report’s preparation, but it could not be examined until the parliamentary session of September 2019, at the earliest. As it stands, the bill does not specify how its provisions will be implemented or how the fund for victims envisaged therein will be financed. 2. Action taken by the Joint Human Rights Office 55. The Joint Office supported three legal clinics in Kasai-Central, North Kivu and South Kivu, which provided free legal assistance to 134 women, 22 men, 276 girls and 19 boys who had suffered sexual violence so as to ensure that they could receive free medical care. Of the cases handled, 206 were brought to court, resulting in 49 judgments including 40 convictions. 56. Based on the findings of investigations conducted by the Joint Office, and in response to an upsurge in conflict-related sexual violence in Shabunda territory, South Kivu, since 2018, the Joint Office has contributed to the development and implementation of an integrated plan of action for the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a view to preventing and responding to such violence. Launched in March 2019, the plan envisages a series of activities aimed at protecting civilians, building State capacity and bringing to justice those responsible for serious human rights violations. One of the results of the plan’s implementation was the arrest, on 25 March 2019, of the leader of the Raia Mutomboki group, Masudi Alimasi Kokodiko, and one of his deputies, accused, among other offences, of crimes against humanity involving rape. 57. The Joint Office has also supported the military justice authorities in the investigation of sexual violence cases in Kasai-Central, North Kivu and South Kivu. For example, in April 2019, a joint investigation mission was undertaken in support of Bukavu military prosecutor’s office that facilitated access to justice for 230 victims and witnesses, including at least 27 men and 193 women, of whom 113 were victims of sexual violence. 8 10 With the exception of two defendants who had been sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment for participation in an insurrectionary movement and who were acquitted. GE.19-13875