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Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned organizations, write to urge your delegation to support the renewal and expansion of the investigation of human rights violations and abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo Kasai region under item 4 of the UN Human Rights Council agenda at its 38th session.
The violations committed in the Kasai region, ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, and Tanganyika – and the serious potential for a broad-scale outbreak of violence in the coming months, the need for further investigation and follow-up. The resolution at the 38th session of the HRC also requires the appointment of the Congolese High Commissioner for Human Rights (19659005) Today, some 4.5 million Congolese are displaced from their homes. More than 100,000 Congolese have fled since January 2018, raising the risk of increased regional instability. Much of the recent violence in Congo is linked to the country's political crisis, which could be seen in the coming months. Considering the scale of the human rights challenges in the country, and the many regions in the country requiring screening, only a dedicated country-wide mechanism covering the country as a whole and conduct of the monitoring and reporting to the HRC and make recommendations to the
The HRC-Mandated Kasai Investigation is due to present its final report during the current 38th session. Beginning in August 2016, violence escalated in the Kasai and led to the death of at least an estimated 5,000 people, and likely many more, the discovery of nearly 90 mass grave, and the displacement of more than 1.4 million people from their homes, including 30,000 refugees who fled to neighboring Angola. In March 2017, two UN investigators – Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan – were killed while investigating serious human rights abuses in the region. No one has been arrested for the murder, and only a few low-level perpetrators have been prosecuted for violence against Congolese in the region. While the scale of violence in the Kasai region is still underway. There is a risk of further escalation as the underlying causes of the violence have not been met. Further investigation will be required to follow up on the findings of the Kasai investigation, with a view to accountability and justice
Meanwhile, since the beginning of this year, violence has intensified in various parts of northeastern Congo's Ituri province, with terrifying incidents of massacres, rapes, and decapitation. Armed groups launched deadly attacks on villages, killing scores of civilians, and displacing more than 200,000 people by April. The reasons behind this sudden escalation of violence remain a mystery, with many survivors and local leaders referral to a "hidden hand" and suspecting the involvement of political leaders at provincial and national levels.
and security forces in eastern Congo's Kivu provinces. According to the Kivu Security Tracker, a joint project of Human Rights Watch and the Congo Research Group, assailants, including state security forces, killed more than 420 civilians and abducted or kidnapped for ransom nearly 650 others in North and South Kivu since the beginning of the year. In South Kivu, in particular, Congolese security forces used excessive force to quash a protest in Kamanyola last September, killing almost 40 Burundian refugees and wounding more than 100 others. More than 100,000 people have been displaced in South Kivu since a few years ago, they have been displaced by a state of national security and an anti-government coalition known as the National People's Coalition for the Sovereignty of Congo (National Coalition of the People for the Sovereignty of the Congo, CNPSC)
In the southeastern province of Tanganyika, more than 200 people were killed, 250,000 others displaced, and numerous villages and displacement camps burned since intercommunal violence broke out in mid-2016. Nobody has been held to date, and the situation remains volatile. In October 2016, Gideon Kyungu, a warlord who had escaped from prison in 2011 after being convicted of crimes committed by Congolese courts for crimes committed, among others, in the Tanganyika region, surrendered to the Congolese authorities and stated his allegiance to President Kabila. He is still living in Lubumbashi, under government protection, despite the fact that he is a prisoner of justice.
These human rights violations and abuses are subject to the rule of law. Joseph Kabila, President of the United States, has been in charge of the past two years of his term of office. Security forces have killed over 300 people overcoming violent protests since 2015. Congolese authorities have banned meetings and demonstrations by the opposition and civil society. Hundreds of opposition supporters and democracy activists have been thrown in jail. Many have been held in secret detention Others have been tried on trumped-up charges. The Congolese media outlets, expelled international journalists and researchers, and periodically curtailed access to the Internet and text messaging.
During the most recent nationwide protests – on 31 December 2017, 21 January 2018 and 25 February 2018 – Congolese security forces used excessive force against peaceful protests organized by the Lay Coordinating Committee, a group close to the Catholic Church. At some instances, the Congolese security forces fired live ammunition into Catholic Church grounds disrupting peaceful services and processions following Sunday Mass, killing at least 18 people and wounding and arresting scores of others
be held on 23 December 2011 Kabila Kabila President Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila Kabila There is a real risk of more deadly crackdowns and potential political violence in the coming months, with possible consequences in the volatile region.
The pre-election context of the escalation of the political crisis rights situation. It is critical that the HRC put in place a mechanism that can respond to them as they emerge.
We look forward to hearing from you and asking you to look into situations and linkages throughout the country.
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a focus on the Kasai region.
19659018] Human Rights Watch
International Refugee Rights Initiative
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