Champion · Conflict Resolution

Justice Plus: Peace and Social Cohesion in Ituri

A Congolese human-rights organisation of lawyers, judges, paralegals and community leaders, building trust between authorities and communities in eastern DRC.

Based in Bunia, Ituri Province, Justice Plus works for the promotion and defence of human rights, conflict transformation, stabilisation and good governance. Its members combat impunity for grave crimes, teach communities about their rights, and work to reduce violence against women and children.

On the Nashiriki platform, Justice Plus leads the Nashiriki Kwa Masikilizano project: community-led conflict resolution and early warning across Ituri and North Kivu.

Provincial authorities and Justice Plus at the launch of the reparations project for survivors in Bunia

Founded3 November 1996

HeadquartersBunia, Ituri

FocusHuman rights & conflict transformation

Websitejustice-plus.org

A Justice Plus facilitator in a branded vest leads a community paralegal training session

Who They Are

From the courtroom to the community

Founded in Bunia on 3 November 1996, in reaction to widespread impunity during the war years, Justice Plus brings together practising lawyers, judicial defenders, magistrates, paralegals and peace advocates: priests, pastors, students and civil-society actors united around the defence of human rights.

A main partner of International Alert in the DRC since 2019, the organisation has supported territorial administrators in resolving security incidents around mines, established committees that mediate disputes between farmers and mining cooperatives, and put community radio on air for peace programming.

That field experience, mediation, conflict monitoring and dialogue between communities and authorities, is exactly what the Nashiriki platform digitises. The digital ground is familiar: under USAID’s Zahabu Safi project, Justice Plus already collects and verifies artisanal gold supply-chain data on the Datastake platform, work that has made provincial authorities treat its figures as the reference.

What They Do

From mining sites to courtrooms: the full breadth of the work.

Justice Plus runs programmes across peacebuilding, community justice, protection and civic accountability, with funders and consortia from the Netherlands to the EU, FCDO, ABA and OSIWA.

Within the Madini kwa Amani na Maendeleo consortium led by International Alert and funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Justice Plus works to pacify the mining areas of Ituri: training and mentoring territorial administrators, resolving security incidents around mines, running conflict-monitoring committees on mining sites, and supporting the Mayuano community radio’s peace programming.

Highlights

A rehabilitated minerals road handed over to the Bahema Baguru chiefdom in 2023

Two equipped conflict-resolution buildings delivered in Mambasa for customary mediation committees

Highlights

A rehabilitated minerals road handed over to the Bahema Baguru chiefdom in 2023

Two equipped conflict-resolution buildings delivered in Mambasa for customary mediation committees

Through the EU-funded Fils Est project (led by the Norwegian Refugee Council) and the FCDO-funded RESET consortium (led by Mercy Corps), Justice Plus facilitates inclusive inter-community dialogues and engages customary authorities across Ituri’s territories and into North Kivu.

Highlights

75 participants from 8 villages produced security roadmaps for 4 chiefdoms of Irumu in 2025

Chiefdom authorities signed a joint commitment to peaceful cohabitation

With the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative, the Tujenge Amani Kwa Umoja project builds a network of community paralegals across Djugu, Irumu, Mahagi and Mambasa, trained in conflict management, land law, judicial procedure and the prevention of gender-based violence.

Highlights

16 community paralegals active across 4 territories

Some 1,650 people reached by GBV and conflict-resolution sensitisation in Mahagi

With OSIWA, Justice Plus improves access to reparations for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Ituri; with ActionAid and EU humanitarian funding, it brings children in return zones back to school. They call school the first rampart against recruitment by armed groups, child labour and gender-based violence.

Highlights

School kits delivered to 6,600 children across 22 schools in Nizi, Nyankunde and Lita

Survivors’ associations created and stakeholders trained on reparations

A consistent civil-society voice around the ICC’s Ituri cases, from Lubanga to Ntaganda

The team publishes quarterly human-rights monitoring reports, takes public positions when authorities overstep, and runs independent citizen surveys, such as its 2025 survey of 213 households on Bunia’s electricity service, fostering dialogue between the population, utilities and public authorities.

Highlights

74 violations documented in a single quarter of 2025, relayed nationally by Radio Okapi

Public communiqués in defence of civic space

Where They Work

Present across all five territories of Ituri.

From its Bunia headquarters, Justice Plus operates across Irumu, Djugu, Mahagi, Mambasa and Aru.

Bunia

Headquarters since 1996. Workshops, advocacy and coordination with provincial authorities.

Milestones

Three decades in the service of justice.

1996
Founded in Bunia on 3 November 1996, in reaction to rampant impunity during the war years.
2004
Human Rights Watch honours Justice Plus director Honoré Musoko for exposing massive abuses in Ituri, calling the organisation one of the few still active through the war.
2010
Granted legal personality by ministerial decree, formalising a decade of human-rights work.
2019
Becomes one of International Alert’s main partners in the DRC.
2023
Minerals road handed over in Bahema Baguru; conflict-resolution buildings delivered in Mambasa; reparations project for survivors launched with OSIWA.
2025
Security roadmaps and a signed commitment to peaceful cohabitation in Irumu; school kits for 6,600 children with ActionAid.
2026
Fils Est community consultations validated with 52 stakeholders in Bunia.

Territorial administrators of Mahagi, Djugu and Irumu seated at a Justice Plus workshop table — Territorial administrators of Mahagi, Djugu and Irumu at a Justice Plus workshop.

The rehabilitated minerals road handed over to the Bahema Baguru chiefdom — The minerals road rehabilitated and handed over to the Bahema Baguru chiefdom.

A speaker with a megaphone addresses a community gathering under the trees in Mahagi — Mass sensitisation on rights and conflict resolution in Mahagi.

Justice Plus: Peace and Social Cohesion in Ituri

Peace is built where justice is within reach.

From the courtroom to the community

From mining sites to courtrooms: the full breadth of the work.

Present across all five territories of Ituri.

Three decades in the service of justice.

Leading the conflict-resolution project