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Aide-Mémoire / Democratic Republic of the Congo

Preparation of elections in the light of ontinued human rights violations

Overview In 2010/11 the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) did not improve. Grave crimes against humanity, war crimes and human rights violations were common. Acute conflicts and continuous structural insufficiencies dominate the living conditions of the population, as the report of the High Commissioner on the Situation of Human Rights (A/HRC/10/58) stated in March 2009. According to MONUSCO, more than 800,000 new internally displaced persons were counted in the provinces of north and south Kivu; about 92,000 people had to flee their homes due to violent fights in their communities in Equateur. In total, within the DRC more than 1.7 million persons are internally displaced due to armed conflict within the whole country.

Impunity Still in 2010 and 2011 the government of the DRC has failed to overcome the severe lack of justice and prevailing impunity in the country. Tens of thousands of civilians have become victims of military attacks, looting, sexual violence, illegal killings or economic exploitation or slave labor. Corruption and regular abuse of power have destroyed the last remnants of a judicial system, leaving the population without access to functional courts. Disliked opposition members, journalists, human rights defenders and other members of the civil society who challenge the government are regularly intimidated, threatened or even physically assaulted by forces close to the government, who don’t have to fear any legal consequences. Even prominent journalist or human rights defenders like Jean Claude Katende (ASADHO), Dismas Kitenge (Groupe Lotus), Justin Bahirwe (SOS Information Juridique) or Kizito Mushizi (Radio Maendeleo) have received death threats connected to their commitment for justice and human rights.

The human rights activist Floribert Chebeya was murdered in after having an appointment with the police commissioner on 31st May 2010. His driver Fidele Bazana is still missing. Many governments, including those of the United States and the along with the heads of international organizations and Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon condemned the killing and called for an independent investigation of his death. On 23 June 2011 a military tribunal passed the verdict: four of eight defendants were sentenced to death, though John Numbi, considered to be the prime suspect, was not charged but only summoned as witness. Several answers to the circumstances such as the real cause of death and the responsibility of all persons involved in this murder remain unclear. In addition the verdict stands in contradiction to the UN moratorium on the use of the death penalty (A/C.3/62/L.29).

The case of Floribert Chebeya is only one example in a long list of cases where perpetrators of severe violations of human rights, crimes against humanity or war crimes are not punished or Ökumenisches Netz Zentralafrika | Aide Mémoire / Democratic Republic of the Congo 1 legally prosecuted. Although the cases of sexual violence caused by the police and the army are still in the thousands per year, hardly any member of the national armed forces, be it soldier or officer, is ever facing justice. The international criminal court in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant against former CNDP general Bosco Ntaganda in 2008, but so far the Congolese government of the DRC is refusing to extradite this suspect of war crimes.

Upcoming Elections - Limitation of Democratic Space In the whole Kivu region the population shows signs of frustration of 2006 elections and feels disappointed by the government and democratic system, that have failed to live up to their expectations. Promises that were made before the last elections such as rehabilitation of infrastructure, education, health care, peace and stability have not been achieved. It seems likely that the participation in the presidential elections 2011 will be significantly lower than in 2006.

The national government needs these elections to renew its formal legitimacy, which is prerequisite for further donor support. It seems as if President Kabila is trying to ensure his re- election by all means. The change of the constitution and the electoral law in February 2011 and the repeated disruption of opposition party meetings indicate that the government is concerned to save her majority of votes. It is unlikely that provincial, communal and local elections will be held at all. The government so far shows no interest in decentralization and a process of power sharing with local constituencies. But to improve local administration and to enhance participation of civil society, the international community should use all its influence to ensure that local elections must take place.

Intimidations and threats against oppositions and constriction of democratic space are on-going and intimidate members of oppositional parties. On 26 July 2011 a peaceful demonstration of members of the opposition party UDPS in front of the building of the CENI (Independent National Election Commission) has been disrupted by the National Police, five members of the UDPS were arrested and claim that they were tortured. On 5 September 2011 one activist of the UDPS was shot dead in Kinshasa, after the office of the UDPS and a TV station nearby were attacked and set alight.

Security Sector Reform The national and international initiatives for the reform of the security sector have so far failed to achieve a substantial change in the performance of the Congolese national army FARDC. Members of the FARDC have been accused by the local population and by human rights groups of repeated rapes, lootings, abductions and killings. The incomplete and fragile process of integration of former armed rebel groups into the FARDC posed a major obstacle to the peace process in the region. Elements integrated in the FARDC, including some from the former Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP), do not acknowledge central command authority and essentially remain outside of the established chain of command. According to an report of the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office FARDC soldiers were responsible for mass rapes and other human rights violations committed in the villages of Bushani and Kalambahiro in Masisi Territory on 31 December 2010 and 1 January 2011.

The situation especially in the Eastern parts of the DRC has deteriorated. Civil society and internally displaced persons have been the victims of attacks launched by all warring factions – national armed forces and armed groups alike. According to a field study conducted by OXFAM in July 2011 fractions of the FARDC were described as the main perpetrator of the more frequent abuses of extortion and other economically driven protection violations, as well as the main perpetrator of sexual violence and forced labour in the Kivu-Region.

Ökumenisches Netz Zentralafrika | Aide Mémoire / Democratic Republic of the Congo 2 Human rights violations connected to the exploitation of natural resources Between September 2010 and March 2011 the Congolese government launched an initiative to halt the illegal exploitation by a law that banned all mining in the Eastern DRC. Unfortunately this legislation has contributed to a range of outcomes, many of which contradict its intention to stabilise the region, decrease acts of war and build peace. The mining areas in the Kivu region that were controlled by armed militias such as the FDLR or Mayi Mayi, have since been seized by the national Congolese Army FARDC, with a reputation of employing equally brutal tactics in their demanding of fees from local workers and markets. FARDC, and especially its integrated wing CNDP under Bosco Ntaganda, notoriously use force, systematic rape, looting, arbitrary taxes and military violence to exert power and generate income.

Even after the government of the DRC drew back their ban on mining in the Kivu area, the military domination and exploitation of the mineral economy continued. Soldiers of the FARDC charge illegal fees and taxes and control the smuggling of the ores to the neighbouring countries. Child labour and extremely dangerous working conditions for the artisanal miners prevail. The state of insecurity, lack of justice and stability discourage international investments and the development of legal and controlled businesses and infrastructures.

Recommendations International Partners to the government of the DRC should use all its means and mechanisms to challenge the Government of the DRC for the re-establishment of human rights protection functions of the state. We call on the Council to adopt a strategy that addresses the human rights violations in their full dimensions. This strategy shall, at least • Call on the government of DRC to ensure the safety of all its citizens in the country; • Call on all parties to the conflict in the DRC to instruct their combatants to end all human rights abuses and to adhere to international human rights and humanitarian law; • Call on the government of DRC to professionalize and enlarge all organs of the justice sector to ensure that all citizens victims of crime or violations of their human rights have access to fair and correct legal procedures in their local area. • Name and condemn the gross and continuing human rights violations of the various actors, either from illegal militias, or from the national armed forces FARDC, the national Police PNC or other members of the national security system. • Require the HCHR to deploy, apart from the MONUC, again a permanent independent international observer for the monitoring, verification, recording and reporting of human rights violations, as well as monitoring of government activities directed towards the reconstruction of the justice and police system in the DRC, the eradication of torture and ill-treatment in custody and the uplift of the prisons. The observers should also collaborate with the prosecution authorities; • Call on the government of DRC to ensure sufficient human rights training and monitoring for the national army and police. • Call on the government of the DRC to implement a national certification system for the legal production and export of minerals such as coltan, cassiterite, gold or diamonds to establish a system of controlled trade chain for the mining and marketing of the national mineral resources, thus ensuring that the revenues of the mineral trade are directed towards a tax-funded national social sector for the benefit of the local population. • prioritise the plans for security sector reform: regular pay, welfare, garrisoning, support for FARDC personnel, discipline and justice and trainings in human rights • implement a coherent system of certification schemes for mineral resources in accordance with the US Dodd Frank legislation, to establish an alternative to the existing illegal

Ökumenisches Netz Zentralafrika | Aide Mémoire / Democratic Republic of the Congo 3 exploitation of the natural resources in the Eastern DRC and the human rights violations that are linked to this form of a war economy.

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