United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
Human Rights Division
27 July 2006
document
Executive Summary
1. In the pre-electoral period, MONUC has noted a significant increase in the number of politically motivated human rights violations linked to the electoral campaigning. The police, the ANR and other members of the security forces have been involved in repressing the civil liberties of individuals suspected of holding certain political affiliations. Sometimes these assumptions have been based on the victim's perceived or actual ethnic identity. These violations have included arbitrary arrest, illegal detention or acts of physical violence, such as beatings or use of excessive force by police during demonstrations.
2. Freedom of expression in the media has also been affected. Journalists and broadcasters have at times been limited or punished in the exercise of their duties, often as a result of the application of outdated legislation. Other public critics of the current political leadership have been silenced by courts acting outside of their jurisdiction.
3. The routine use of physical violence against civilians, including summary executions, beatings and rape, committed by FARDC soldiers, who often underwent the 'brassage' process, is reported wherever the army is deployed. MONUC has also noted with concern the level of violence against civilians perpetrated by the FARDC in the course of military operations. In the Ituri District, a number of counter-insurgency operations since the beginning of the year have led to the arbitrary killing of civilians accused of complicity with militia groups. Arbitrary arrest and ill-treatment of militia suspects in military camps (including women and children) have also led to several deaths in custody in the District.
4. The fight against impunity has seen some positive developments, but overall it has come to a stalemate due to the lack of will and capacity to investigate and prosecute serious human rights violations by the Congolese authorities. In February, Thomas Lubanga was handed over by the DRC authorities to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to be tried for crimes committed during the conflict in Ituri District. Domestic military courts delivered four important judgements: in Ituri, an officer was convicted of war crimes; in Bukavu, a former army officer was convicted for recruiting children in the armed forces; and in Equateur, 48 soldiers were found guilty of rape, murder and looting, as crimes against humanity, in two separate trials. These judgements have created important new jurisprudence for the DRC, each representing the first-time verdicts reached for such crimes. MONUC also welcomes the direct application of the Rome Statute by military courts.
5. On the other hand, MONUC is concerned that there is an increasing tendency to interfere by political and military authorities into the administration of military justice, which often paralyses the work of this institution. Arrest warrants against serving FARDC soldiers for the massacre of 30 civilians in Kilwa, Katanga Province, in October 2004 were not carried out, blocked by a lack of cooperation between the military hierarchy and the military prosecutor. Two important former warlords from Ituri, suspected of multiple international crimes, are reported to remain at liberty in the capital, Kinshasa. Eight other Ituri militiamen, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, have been in custody without trial for over a year. The trial of a military officer in North Kivu for the murder of seven individuals, including four children, has been suspended since July 2005 following an undue intervention by the military hierarchy, and in South Kivu, the Commander of the 10 th Military Region (MR) refused to execute the arrest of four officers accused of human rights violations including rape, torture and arbitrary arrest, under the pretext that he needed those officers for military operations.
6. MONUC is also concerned by the fact that civilians are routinely tried for common crimes before military jurisdictions. Although such practice is grounded in Congolese law, it contradicts international principles according to which civilians must never be tried by military courts. A legislative reform to correct this anomaly should be one of the first priorities of the new Parliament.
7. Human rights discourse is largely absent in the manifestos of the main political parties. There are no clearly defined objectives for human rights protection and promotion. Neither are there any declarations by the main political contenders to include human rights issues in the core programme of a new administration.
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