Bulambo Lembelembe Josué is a DR Congolese Christian minister, and a defender of

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

Biography

Josué was born on 11 February 1960 in the

Mwenga Territory Mwenga is a territory in the province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the ...

. He is an advocate of reconciliation, and offers help to the victims of the waging rebels that have terrorized the DRC yet for several decennia. In the ten years since 1998 more than five million people died because of war violence in this region. He is a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

minister and vice-president of ''

Eglise du Christ au Congo The Church of Christ in the Congo or CCC (in French, or ECC) is a union of 62 Protestant denominations, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it is often simply referred to as the Protestant Chur ...

'' (ECC). Furthermore he is the vice-president and in 1991 one of the founders of the human rights organization Héritiers de la Justice in

Bukavu Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), lying at the extreme south-western edge of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the South Kivu P ...

. This organization strives for spreading consciousness of human rights and offers help to former

child soldier Children in the military, including state armed forces, non-state armed groups, and other military organizations, may be trained for combat, assigned to support roles, such as cooks, porters/couriers, or messengers, or used for tactical adv ...

s and victims of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

. Thanks to his prominent role as a church leader he has a relatively free space of

speech Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

to advocate for democratic ideals in this region. He is an avowed opponent of giving amnesty to perpetrators of sexual violence. From 1995 to 2005 he was the president of church Communauté des Eglises Libres de Pentecôte en Afrique (CELPA).The 2008 Rafto Prize awarded toPastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josué - DRC
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Recognition

Josué was awarded the

Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize The Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize (''Raftoprisen'') is a human rights award established in the memory of the Norwegian human rights activist, Thorolf Rafto. Organization The prize is awarded annually by the Rafto Foundation for Human R ...

in 2008.

References

*Rafto Foundation
biography
*Norway, governmental website
''Prestigious human rights prize to Eastern Congo''
People from South Kivu Democratic Republic of the Congo religious leaders 20th-century Protestant religious leaders Democratic Republic of the Congo Pentecostals Democratic Republic of the Congo human rights activists Living people 1960 births 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people {{DRCongo-bio-stub