• Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo

    The human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo remains grave. National elections were chaotic and marred by state security forces attacking opposition candidates, journalists and ordinary citizens. Incumbent President Joseph Kabila claimed victory, but election monitors said the results lacked credibility. Attempts to protest were brutally suppressed, and the main opposition candidate was put under nominal house arrest. In the east, the military and armed groups continue attacks on civilians, including rape and killings. A few perpetrators were prosecuted, but Bosco Ntaganda, an army general wanted by the International Criminal Court, remains free while his forces continue to commit atrocities.

  • Displaced people cross the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) into Rwanda, as seen from Gisenyi, November 20, 2012, as M23 rebels advance on Goma.
    © 2012 Reuters
    DR Congo: US Should Urge Rwanda to End M23 Support

    The United States government should publicly support sanctions against Rwandan officials backing the armed group M23, which has been responsible for widespread war crimes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. M23 rebels, whose commanders have been implicated in serious abuses, captured the city of Goma on November 20, 2012.

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Democratic Republic of Congo

  • Ending the cycle of abuse in Congo
    Jan 2, 2013
    On Nov. 19, armed men from a rebel group called the M23 were looking for a prominent civil society leader in a village outside Goma, a provincial capital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He'd been in hiding for several weeks after receiving text messages threatening him for his public denunciations of M23 abuses. When the rebels didn't find him, they shot his colleague, killing him.
  • Rwanda’s Rampaging Rebel Force
    Dec 28, 2012

    Despite supporting a brutal rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda is about to take a seat on the U.N. Security Council. Few countries dare challenge the Security Council the way Rwanda does; even fewer get away with it. Yet on Tuesday, despite backing an abusive rebel group that has attacked U.N. peacekeepers in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda will take a two-year seat on the council.  

  • ICC: Congolese Rebel Leader Acquitted in Court’s Second Case
    Dec 18, 2012

    The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) acquittal on December 18, 2012, of a Congolese rebel leader on all charges should re-energize efforts to prosecute others for atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

  • DR Congo: US Should Urge Rwanda to End M23 Support
    Nov 20, 2012

    The United States government should publicly support sanctions against Rwandan officials backing the armed group M23, which has been responsible for widespread war crimes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. M23 rebels, whose commanders have been implicated in serious abuses, captured the city of Goma on November 20, 2012.

  • Keep Soldiers Out of Schools and Universities
    Nov 20, 2012
    The use of schools and other education institutions for military purposes by armed forces and non-state armed groups during wartime endangers students and their education around the world, said the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack in a study released today.
  • DR Congo: Awaiting Justice One Year After Ethnic Attack
    Oct 4, 2012
    Congolese authorities have done virtually nothing to identify or bring to justice the killers of seven humanitarian workers in an ethnically motivated attack a year ago in South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • DR Congo: M23 Rebels Committing War Crimes
    Sep 11, 2012

    M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are responsible for widespread war crimes, including summary executions, rapes, and forced recruitment. Thirty-three of those executed were young men and boys who tried to escape the rebels’ ranks.

  • Letter to World Bank Vice President for Africa On Rwanda
    Sep 5, 2012

    I am writing to urge the World Bank to review its programing in Rwanda in light of detailed evidence of human rights abuses by the Rwandan government and the Rwandan military’s support for armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) responsible for serious human rights violations.

  • Awards for Rights Activists from Congo, Libya
    Aug 14, 2012
    Abbé Benoît Kinalegu from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Salah Marghani from Libya have been selected as recipients of the prestigious Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism. Recipients of this award are leading voices for justice in their countries, working relentlessly to protect the rights and dignity of others.
  • Abbé Benoît Kinalegu, Democratic Republic of Congo
    Aug 12, 2012
    Congolese activist Abbé Benoît Kinalegu works to document and expose abuses by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and rehabilitate its victims.
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