Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - Country of Concern: latest update, 30 September 2014
Updated 21 January 2015
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0.1 Latest Update: 30 September 2014
We continued to have significant concerns about the human rights situation in the DRC during the period July to September. Whilst we welcome signs of commitment on the part of the government of the DRC to ending impunity for grave human rights abuses, we believe there still remains an urgent need to address serious human rights abuses and violations, including the killing and maiming of civilians.
Since July, there has been a general increase in human rights violations. The Congolese army and police stand accused of killings, rapes and the ill treatment of detainees. It has been estimated that the Congolese National Police (PNC) was responsible for as many as 25% of all human rights violations. There was also an increase in the number of incidents of sexual violence.
The UK strongly welcomes the recent appointment of Jeanine Mabunda, the President’s Personal Representative for Sexual Violence and Child Recruitment, as well as other progress in tackling sexual and gender based violence in the DRC. This includes the launch of work on the first Action Plan for the Congolese Army on tackling Sexual Violence, and progress made on reducing child recruitment since the signing of the National Action Plan in 2012.
In a joint statement with EU colleagues, we expressed concerns at the heavy sentence given to Jean Bertrand Ewanga, the deputy of the opposition UNC party. It is a negative signal, given that the forthcoming elections require peaceful, open and democratic debate respecting the principles of the constitution and the government’s commitments to national reconciliation and the Addis Accord. The government of the DRC must ensure that the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression is protected. Members of political parties and the opposition, journalists and human rights defenders should at all times be able to hold the government to account without fear of reprisals, intimidation or harassment.
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