DECISIVE ACTION NEEDED TO END VIOLENCE IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, SAYS UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF

27 November 2008

GENEVA -- The cycle of sexual violence, bloodshed and destruction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will continue unless the international community takes decisive steps to help bring it to an end, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Thursday.

Speaking on the eve of a Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council devoted to the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ms. Pillay warned that “a failure to adequately address the root causes of the conflict in the eastern part of the country will risk leading to further outbreaks of large-scale violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo itself, and possibly elsewhere in the Great Lakes region of Africa.”

Since heavy fighting resumed in North Kivu in August, UN human rights staff have documented a steady worsening of the human rights situation with summary executions, kidnappings, rape and widespread looting committed on a daily basis by the various forces operating in the region.

“The prevailing culture of impunity,” said Ms. Pillay, “contributes to the wide range of serious human rights violations that are rampant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including massive displacement, killings and a continuation of the unparalleled violence against women.”

“Recent reports suggest an escalation of sexual violence in its most brutal forms, committed by all sides in the conflict, including soldiers belonging to the national army,” Ms. Pillay said. “I was appalled to learn that last week a 13-year-old girl was raped so viciously in a camp for displaced people in Kibati, that she died as a result. But this is not an isolated incident. Thousands upon thousands of women have been raped over the past decade, and hardly any of their attackers have been brought to justice. And without justice, these vile crimes will simply continue.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also warned that the lucrative trade in illegally mined minerals was clearly fuelling the Congolese conflict. “This has to be exposed and comprehensively addressed,” Ms. Pillay said.

Mining proceeds are believed to be the main source of financial support for several of the groups fighting in Eastern Congo. “The people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are destitute, but the country’s mineral wealth is vast,” Ms. Pillay pointed out. “Since most of the mining is carried out illegally, the money passes into the hands of the wrong people. This violates the economic rights of the ordinary people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

“Only through a concerted effort, involving state and non-state actors and the international community, will it become possible to stop the fighting and re-deploy the country’s resources to generate the welfare, development and prosperity that the Congolese people are entitled to, and so desperately need after 12 years of extreme lawlessness and violence,” the UN human rights chief said.
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