FACED with the escalation of violence and the deterioration of human rights, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has made an impassioned plea to those involved in protracted conflict.
“Make space for peace,” said Volker, at a media briefing in Geneva this week.
He continued: “ The human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to deteriorate before our eyes. An explosive mix of escalating violence, regional and international interests, exploitative businesses and a weak rule of law. To the detriment of a people already devastated by decades of conflict. This situation deserves the immediate attention of the international community so that the guns fall silent and a space for peace can be created.”
During his visit to the DRC in April this year, several issues remained relevant, Türk said.
“ First of all, the imperative to end the conflict in the East. The number of victims of human rights violations and abuses and violations of international humanitarian law continues to increase, “ he said.
The High Commissioner said between 1 June 2023 and 31 May 2024, 85 percent of violations and abuses committed in the country took place in conflict-affected provinces in the east of the country. Members of armed groups were reportedly responsible for 61 percent of these, as well as deadly attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.
“ Despite some prevention and investigation efforts, sexual violence is spreading, with 700 new victims identified in the reporting period alone. Armed groups abduct, hold captive and subject women and girls to sexual slavery. Many have been killed after being raped. The cases are certainly not all reported. This is appalling, ” he said.
According to humanitarian sources, 940,000 more people have been internally displaced this year, bringing the total number of internally displaced people to over 6.4 million. The country has 23.4 million food-insecure people, making it the most food-insecure country in the world.
Human rights violations committed by the DRC defence and security forces, particularly during their military operations against armed groups, remain worrying, according to the High Commissioner.
Long-standing hate speech and other incitement to discrimination and violence fuel conflict and increase political tensions across the country and must not be tolerated.
“ I urge countries that exert influence over armed groups to do everything in their power to ensure that the fighting stops. Any role played by Rwanda in supporting the M23 in North Kivu – and by any other country supporting armed groups active in the DRC – must end, ” Türk said.
The High Commissioner added that the authorities must be fully able to assume their role in the East to ensure security as well as essential public services such as education and health. The State must also combat impunity, and provide effective remedies to victims of human rights violations and abuses, including access to justice through a fair and effective judicial system.
Türk welcomed the authorities’ efforts to pursue accountability. Between June last year and May this year, 79 FARDC soldiers, 23 PNC officers, 315 members of armed groups and 105 civilians were convicted of crimes related to serious human rights violations and abuses.
Detention conditions are deteriorating across the DRC, the High Commissioner said.
“In detention centres run by the intelligence services, in particular, a number of detainees are subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual violence, and are held in dire conditions without access to their families and lawyers. ”
The High Commissioner noted recent efforts to reduce prison overcrowding and urged the authorities to ensure full and transparent investigations into the killings and rapes of prisoners that occurred on 2 September at Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa.
He remains concerned by the lifting in March of the de facto moratorium on the death penalty – a major step backwards, running counter to the trend towards abolition seen in Africa and around the world.
The DRC is endowed with exceptional natural resources, including minerals such as cobalt, gold and copper, hydroelectric potential, vast arable land, immense biodiversity and the second largest rainforest in the world.
“ Yet the grabbing of resources from the illegal exploitation and illicit trade of the DRC’s natural resources, with the complicity of companies inside and outside the country, as well as the proliferation and trafficking of arms, continue to be among the main drivers of the current violence, ” the High Commissioner said.
” What strikes me is how the situation in the east is linked to our daily lives, like our cell phones that are powered by minerals from the east,” said Volker Türk. “ The people of the DRC are exhausted by the violence, exhausted by the conflict, exhausted by the horrors of their daily lives. They need to have and, most importantly, to envisage a future, ” Türk said.
