SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO RESIGNS

18 October 2001





Roberto Garreton, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo, yesterday presented his letter of resignation to the President of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Mr. Garreton said that he had resigned because the new responsibilities that he would be undertaking were incompatible with the status of independent expert that the Special Rapporteur’s mandate called for.

The Chilean lawyer yesterday also sent letters to the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Major General Joseph Kabila, and to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, to inform them of his resignation.

Mr. Garreton said that the Commission on Human Rights should quickly appoint his successor. He recalled that a mission that was made up of his successor, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and a member of the Working Group on forced or involuntary disappearances was scheduled to visit the Democratic Republic of Congo early in 2002 to investigate allegations of massacres and violations of human rights in the country between 1996 and 1997, in conformity with resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights on these issues.

The former Special Rapporteur said there was no statutory limitation to these crimes
which were crimes against humanity, and that the process of reconciliation in the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as in the Great Lakes region would not succeed if the cycle of impunity continued. “The identification and bringing to justice of those responsible for these massacres will be an important step in this sense, and it is imperative that the truth is established for the thousands of men, women and children who were killed”, he added.

Following his resignation, Mr. Garreton made public today an open letter to the Congolese people in which he thanked all those who had helped and supported him during the eight years that he was Special Rapporteur.


Mr. Garreton was appointed as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1994. Since then, he has carried out nine missions to the country. His last mission was undertaken from 19 July to 2 August. He was banned from visiting the country for two years by the Alliance des forces démocratiques pour la libération du Congo/Zaire after publishing a report in which he said that thousands of Rwandan refugees were massacred in 1996 and 1997.

Information on Mr. Garreton’s predecessors as Special Rapporteur as well as the resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo can be found on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ( http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/a/mcon.htm)



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