In August 2010, a high-level panel was convened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to hear directly from victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) regarding their needs and their perceptions of remedies and reparations available to them. The High Commissioner tasked the panel to assess the functioning of existing judicial mechanisms for remedies and reparations for victims of sexual violence, and to make recommendations on the strengthening of these mechanisms as well as the need for additional mechanisms, particularly to provide access to remedies for victims whose perpetrators are not known. The panel was chaired by Kyung-wha Kang, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, with Elisabeth Rehn, former Minister of Defense of Finland and co-author of the UNIFEM report on Women, War and Peace, and Dr. Denis Mukwege, Medical Director of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu (South Kivu) serving as members. The panel worked in consultation with the Government of the DRC.