DR Congo: Thousands Forcibly Recruited and Detained

Rwandan military forces and the M23 armed group carried out a campaign of forced recruitment and abusive detention of thousands of captured combatants and civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The report, “‘Death Was Everywhere’: Arbitrary Detention, Killings, and Forced Recruitment by the M23 and the Rwanda Defence Force,” documents large-scale roundups and arrests in North and South Kivu provinces in eastern Congo, as well as grave abuses against detainees at the Rumangabo and Tshanzu training camps in North Kivu, between mid-2024 and December 2025. M23 fighters, backed by Rwandan military personnel, have committed murder, torture, corporal punishment, and used forced labor and child soldiers, researchers found. These abuses are war crimes and should be investigated as possible crimes against humanity.