WITHDRAWAL OF INVESTIGATORS FROM DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO INEVITABLE RESULT OF SERIES OF OBSTACLES, SAYS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

HR/98/27
17 April 1998


Underscores Need for International Criminal Court with Political Backing and Resources to Bring to Justice Worst Violators of Human Rights

Today's decision by the Secretary-General to withdraw his Investigative Team (SGIT) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was the inevitable result of a series of obstacles which have prevented the Team fulfilling its mandate.

I see this development in the overall context of the international community's commitment to fight impunity which is one of the major factors in the recurrent violence in the Great Lakes Region and elsewhere.

The withdrawal is a grave setback in this battle against impunity and underscores the need for an International Criminal Court with the political backing and resources to bring to justice the perpetrators of the worst violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

Through the Joint Investigative Mission of the Commission on Human Rights and then through the SGIT, the United Nations has tried for the last year to determine the facts and establish a measure of individual or collective responsibility, in particular regarding allegations of large scale massacres and forced displacement leading to the deaths of many thousands of people in the DRC.

The people of the DRC, and of the broader region, are entitled to a future free from the violence and abuse of the past decades. An essential step in realising such changes lies in ending the cycle of impunity which has only encouraged inter-ethnic and other violence.

The United Nations' effort to end impunity and inject accountability required the full cooperation of the authorities in Kinshasa and in the provinces of the DRC where the SGIT sought to work. Sadly, that cooperation was not fully given, clouding the international community's hopes for genuine sustainable improvements in respect for human rights in the DRC.

I would like to thank the many people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring countries who supported the process. The United Nations is seeking assurances that they will not suffer any consequences related to their assistance to these investigations and will monitor their situation very carefully.

Earlier this week, I met Mr Mwenze Kongolo, the Minister of Justice of the DRC. While we differed in our views on the circumstances regarding the SGIT, I was pleased at his positive comments on the work of my Office in Kinshasa.

My Office remains committed to working with the Government and the people of the DRC in improving the human rights situation in the country. This will involve encouraging the development of civil society and opening channels of dialogue with the Government on the full range of human rights issues - including the serious problems in realising economic, social and cultural rights.