II. RECOMMENDATIONS

Human Rights Watch calls upon the Ugandan government to:

· Give clear instructions to Ugandan forces deployed in the Congo to provide security for the civilian population and for humanitarian workers and to comply with the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Protocol I of 1977.

· Appoint an independent commission of inquiry to investigate reports of killings of civilians and execution of noncombatants by Ugandan soldiers. The Ugandan government should make public the findings of such investigations and prosecute Ugandan personnel against whom evidence emerges of responsibility for crimes in Ugandan courts. The Ugandan government should instruct UPDF forces in the DRC to cooperate with these and any other investigations into abuses against civilians. In particular:

- Conduct impartial and transparent investigations into the role of the UPDF in the Hema-Lendu conflict from its onset in mid 1999 to date.
- Investigate reports that the UPDF failed to intervene in a timely manner to prevent large-scale revenge killings in Bunia on January 19, 2001 following a militia attack on UPDF positions there. Recall to Uganda and replace the UPDF commander in Bunia and his immediate subordinates until their responsibilities in the response of the UPDF to the revenge killings are clarified.
- Investigate the conduct of UPDF and rebel troops during the attack on the Mai-Mai encampment in Lubero on August 25 and 26, 2000 and prosecute those responsible for the killing of noncombatants.
- Provide an immediate accounting for and allow access by the International Committee of the Red Cross to all combatants, including Mai-Mai fighters and other militia, captured by the UPDF in northeastern Congo.

· Free immediately all Congolese citizens arbitrarily detained for political offenses by the UPDF in the DRC and by Ugandan authorities in Uganda.

· Stop the recruitment and training in the DRC or Uganda of child soldiers under the age of eighteen and demobilize, disarm, rehabilitate, and return to their homes all such children.

· Sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict without reservations, and submit upon ratification, a binding declaration establishing a minimum age of at least eighteen for voluntary recruitment.

· Direct the UPDF to allow full access and the neutral provision of humanitarian assistance to all needy populations in areas under its control.

· Allow national and international human rights organizations, independent journalists, and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the DRC full access to investigate allegations of human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law in areas controlled by the UPDF.

· Support local conflict resolution initiatives.

Human Rights Watch calls upon the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation Movement (RCD-ML) and the Front for the Liberation of Congo (FLC) to:

· Immediately cease all attacks on civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law.

· Establish internal investigations of violations of international humanitarian law by RCD-ML and FLC forces in northeastern DRC, particularly of the killings of civilians in Bunia on January 19, 2001.

· Stop the recruitment, and training of children under the age of eighteen and demobilize, disarm, rehabilitate, and return to their homes all such children.

· Allow full access and the neutral provision of humanitarian assistance to all populations in need in areas under your control.

· Provide full access to national and international human rights organizations, independent journalists, and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the DRC investigating allegations of human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law in areas under your control.

Human Rights Watch calls upon the Mai-Mai, Hema and Lendu militia, and other armed groups operating in northeastern Congo to:

· Immediately cease all attacks on civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law.

· Establish internal investigations into violations of international humanitarian law described in this report.

· Stop the recruitment, and training of children under the age of eighteen and demobilize, disarm, rehabilitate, and return to their homes all such children.

· Allow unfettered access and the neutral provision of humanitarian assistance to all populations in need.

Human Rights Watch recommendations to the United Nations Security Council:

· To end impunity for atrocities committed in the Congo, the Security Council should establish a U.N. Commission of Experts to investigate and determine responsibility for grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law in the DRC. This would implement a key 1998 recommendation of the U.N. Secretary General's Investigative Team in the DRC (SGIT) and might also deter further abuses. To complete the work the SGIT was prevented from doing, the commission should have a mandate for the period beginning in 1993 and continuing to the present. The Commission of Experts should also be charged with recommending to the Security Council an appropriate mechanism for bringing to justice persons responsible for violations.

· Increase the number of military observer teams of the U.N. Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) in Bunia. The military observers should receive instructions to increase their visibility in the town and surrounding areas affected by the conflict between the Hema and the Lendu. The military observers should also increase their involvement by interviewing victims on both sides of the conflict and interacting with humanitarian actors assisting the victims.

· Support and increase MONUC's human rights monitoring programs and immediately deploy a number of MONUC's human rights and child protection officers in the region of Bunia.

Human Rights Watch urges the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to adopt a resolution that:
· Strongly endorses the call for the strengthening of the MONUC, and urges closer cooperation between MONUC and the High Commissioner for Human Rights' Field Office in the DRC.

· Renews the mandate of the special rapporteur and provides him, as well as the Field Office, with the necessary resources for meaningful interventions.

Human Rights Watch calls upon the United Nations (U.N.), Organization of African Unity (O.A.U.), the Southern Africa Development Community (S.A.D.C.), the European Union, the United States, and other international actors to:
· Strongly and publicly denounce violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by all parties involved in the DRC war and insist upon accountability for the perpetrators. Exert strong and constant pressure on all foreign countries involved in the war in the Congo as well as the Congolese government to observe their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law.

· Support the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Field Office in Congo so as to increase its monitoring and technical assistance programs, including in eastern Congo and throughout government-held territory.

· Condemn in the strongest terms the human rights abuses committed by the two parties to the Hema-Lendu conflict and assist in creating a mechanism for international justice for organizers of this violence, as requested by the people who have themselves suffered the most from the conflict.

· Press for an investigation of the conduct of Ugandan troops deployed in the Hema-Lendu conflict zone to determine their role in the conflict.

· Subject economic assistance to all the states involved in the Congo war to close scrutiny to ensure that funds earmarked for social and economic development programs do not end up funding the war effort of any party to the conflict.

· Significantly increase the level of funding for humanitarian assistance in the DRC generally, and more particularly in eastern Congo, the scene of the worst humanitarian crisis in the country. Encourage international humanitarian organizations to increase their presence in northeastern Congo.

· Vigorously and publicly denounce the recruitment, abduction, training, and use of children and all forcible recruitment, training and use of involuntary adult recruits and in any armed forces in the DRC.

Human Rights Watch calls upon Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflicts to:
· Urge all parties to the conflict to initiate and make operational disarming, demobilization, and rehabilitation programs for all child soldiers and to monitor carefully the implementation of such programs. The special representative should monitor in particular remedial action on behalf of the 163 Hema children taken for military training in Uganda and other children, whether from the Lendu or other groups, trained at Nyaleke or other camps in Congo, whether recruited by government armies, rebel groups, or armed opposition bands.

· Seek commitments from all armed forces and groups in the region to end all recruitment of children under the age of eighteen, and actively monitor such commitments