Raphael is a Senior Advocate from the DRC with over nine years of experience in human rights litigation and advocacy. He holds an Advanced master’s in Human Rights from UCLouvain, Belgium and an LL.M. in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He also holds a Law Degree in  Private and Judicial Law from the Université Libre des Pays des Grands Lacs, DRC. Raphael has represented victims of sexual violence before national courts, and his expertise is focused on strategic litigation and human rights monitoring within the African human rights system. He has collaborated with organisations including Lawyers Without Borders Canada, the Cameroon Network for Human Rights Organisations , and the Centre d’Excellence Denis Mukwege, where his research focused on restorative justice and victims’ rights. Before joining IHRDA, Raphael worked as a legal consultant for various organisations and as a researcher and lecturer at universities in the DRC (Université Catholique La Sapientia in Goma, Université Lumière de Bujumbura-Goma campus). He also served as a judicial monitor in the UNDP-supported Monitoring Judiciaire project, gaining extensive expertise in monitoring trials and documenting human rights violations. Raphael has published and presented widely on human rights, restorative justice, holistic care for survivors of sexual violence, and access to reparation in Africa (Strengthening the Role of National Human Rights Institutions in Development: A Critical Assessment of the Congolese Human Rights Commission; Jurisprudence commentée en matière pénale des juridictions du Nord-Kivu et Ituri). His expertise spans strategic litigation, capacity building, policy development, and human rights monitoring within the African human rights system.