This report presents the findings of the investigations undertaken by the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) into the mass rapes and other human rights violations committed during the attacks on 13 villages along the Kibu-Mpofi axis in Walikale territory, North Kivu, between 30 July and 2 August 2010. As a result of its investigations, the UNJHRO is able to conclude that at least 387 civilians, including 300 women, 23 men, 55 girls and 9 boys, were raped by a coalition of combatants from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, the Mayi Mayi Sheka and residual elements of forces under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Nsengiyumva. In addition, at least 923 houses and 42 shops were looted and 116 civilians abducted and subjected to forced labor by the assailants. The report also covers the latest developments with regard to the investigations carried out by the military judicial authorities following the violations. Finally, the report includes recommendations to ensure better protection of civilians and guarantee respect for international humanitarian and human rights law following these attacks.
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This report by the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) addresses the human rights violations committed against civilians in the villages of Bushani and Kalambahiro in Masisi territory, North Kivu, on 31 December 2010 and 1 January 2011. On the basis of the investigations undertaken into these violations, the UNJHRO is able to confirm that men in uniform identified by various sources as soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) submitted 47 women, including one minor, to sexual violence, including rape, abducted two civilians, and inflicted cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment on 12 others civilians. They also looted at least 100 houses in the Bushani area and three buildings and set on fire or destroyed at least four houses. No source, however, has yet been able to identify the FARDC battalion(s) that took part in the attack, particularly as their uniforms wore no identification. The report also highlights the limited cooperation between the FARDC and the military prosecutor’s office which impeded efforts to fight impunity. This report contains recommendations to the authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), MONUSCO and humanitarian partners, in particular with regard to the protection of civilians in these villages, the type of assistance needed by the victims, and the measures to be taken to ensure that the alleged perpetrators of these violations are brought to justice.
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From 30 July to 2 August 2010, a coalition of forces of the Mayi Mayi Cheka and the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) as well as forces under Colonel Emmanuel Nsengiyumva, a total of at least 200 fighters, systematically attacked civilians in 13 villages along the Kibua-Mpofi road in Walikale territory, province of North Kivu. The assailants looted most of these villages, committed mass rapes of women, me and children, abducted civilians and used them to forced labour.
The UNJHRO deployed a special fact-finding team from 25 August to 2 September 2010 in order to conduct an in-depth investigation into these human rights violations. The team visited the 13 villages targeted by the perpetrators and gathered more than 300 witness statements from different sources.
This is a preliminary report of the results of the investigation conducted by the team.
See the press release from and .
Date of publication: 24 September 2010
Original: French
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Report presented on the of the Human Rights Council
Through interaction with various parts of the United Nations human rights system, including the High Commissioner, the Human Rights Council and its special procedures, as well as the treaty bodies, numerous recommendations have been made to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, yet very limited progress has been made in their implementation. Consequently, the Congolese people remain insecure in enjoying even their most fundamental human rights.
As an emerging “recommendation fatigue” can be observed, the approach of this report is not to make new recommendations to the Congolese authorities, but rather to recall conclusions and recommendations made in particular by the High Commissioner and seven thematic special procedures in their previous reports to the Council, as well as by other special procedures and treaty bodies to these recommendations during the period from March to November 2009 to identify setbacks and to determine the causes for the insufficient implementation of the recommendations.
Date of publication: 28 January 2010
Original: English
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The investigation conducted by the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) from November 2008 to the beginning of January 2009 into the Kiwanja killings of 5 November 2008, indicates that after the intense fighting between Mayi Mayi combatants and the Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP) had ended and the Mayi Mayi had retreated from Kiwanja, CNDP elements conducted targeted and reprisal killings of the villagers, mainly young men whom they suspected of being either members or collaborators of the Mayi Mayi.
Date of publication: 7 September 2009
Original language: English
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This report provides a summary of the investigative and fact finding missions conducted between May 2008 and June 2009, by teams of officers from the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)1, on human rights violations committed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)2, under the command of Joseph Kony and senior officers, some of whom have had arrest warrants issued against them by the ICC.3 The report focuses on the attacks from September 2008 to June 2009 in the districts of Haut-Uélé and Bas-Uélé, Orientale province.
Date of publication: December 2009
Original language: French
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This report compiles the observations of the United Nations Joint Office for Human Rights (UNJHRO) during the appeal proceedings (6 oof February to 21st of May 2008) against the presumed perpetrators of Serge Maheshe’s assassination.
Serge Maheshe, an editor of Radio Okapi in Bukavu, South Kivu, and a member of MONUC’s national staff, was killed on 13 June 2007 in Bukavu in South Kivu Province. Following this assassination, lower court trial proceedings were held before the Tribunal Militaire de Garnison of Bukavu (Military Garrison Court) and appeal proceedings were held before the South Kivu Military Court.
During its observation of the appeal proceedings, the UNJHRO noted that all the guaranties for a just and fair trial were not respected by the South Kivu Military Court.
Date of publication: November 2009
Original language: French
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At the end of October 2008 and in November 2008, in the context of generalized fighting in North Kivu between the Congolese-Tutsi rebel group Congrès national pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP) and the Congolese National Armed Forces ( Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo – FARDC) supported by other forces (local Mayi Mayi militias and Rwandan-Hutu FDLR militia), the CNDP managed to secure several strategic positions and subsequently launched large scale operations in two different directions, South towards Goma, the provincial capital, and North towards the large urban centre of Rutshuru. The FARDC troops charged with the defence of both axes retreated further South through Goma town and towards South Kivu; and North into Lubero territory through Kanyabayonga.
This report deals primarily with the serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed both in Goma and in several towns and villages of Lubero territory, including Kanyabayonga, by FARDC elements during their withdrawal and highlights the need for profound reforms to be undertaken by the FARDC to enable it to fully and properly play its constitutional role.
Date of publication: September 2009
Original language: English
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A Human Rights-led multidisciplinary team1 was dispatched to Bas Congo from 17-28 March 2008 to carry out an investigation into the violent incidents involving the Police nationale congolaise (PNC) and the Bundu Dia Kongo in Matadi and the territories of Luozi, Seke-Banza and Lukula.
On 28 February, the Government launched operations to restore State authority throughout Bas Congo. These operations were carried out by the PNC, in particular by units of the Police d’Intervention Rapide (PIR, including the so-called Simba Battalion) and the Unité de Police Intégrée (UPI), dispatched from Kinshasa. The operations were aimed at re-establishing the State’s authority throughout Bas Congo. The size and composition of the PNC force deployed, the comprehensive geographical dimension of the operations, the type of weapons and ammunition used, the excessive use of force employed and the arbitrary executions that were carried out, the systematic destruction of BDK temples and houses and the large number of arbitrary arrests all suggest that the authorities may have intended to considerably reduce the operational capacity of the BDK movement.
Date of publication: May 2008
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French only
En janvier 2008, au moins trente civils ont été tués à Kalonge et ses environs, au Nord-Kivu, par le CNDP. La majorité des victimes sont des hommes dont certains ont d'abord été arrêtés, ligotés avant d'être tués. Toutes les victimes sont des Hutus. La zone ayant été le théâtre du massacre est connue comme étant une zone sous le contrôle du CNDP.
Date de publication: 2008
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