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Amnesty International 24 April 2013 Two teachers were arrested in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, on 18 and 19 April, in connection with an ongoing peaceful strike that began on 25 February. They have not been charged and Amnesty International considers them to be prisoners of conscience, detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of [...]

Human Rights Watch Annual Report 2013 Published on 31 January 2013 State security forces and Congolese and foreign armed groups committed numerous and widespread violations of the laws of war against civilians in eastern and northern Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo). In late 2011, opposition party members and supporters, human rights activists, and journalists were [...]

Amnesty International Public Statement AI Index: IOR 63/001/2013 African Union Summit: Human rights must be protected during armed conflicts Download 26 January 2013 DRC: 2012 saw an escalation of the conflict in the DRC, between the M23 armed group and the national army. Amnesty International has documented human rights violations perpetrated by all parties to the conflict, [...]

RefWorld 17 December 2012 The situation on the ground in the Kivus – two provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which have experienced violent clashes and civilian displacement involving armed groups over recent months – remains “tense and fragile,” a United Nations spokesperson said today.  Speaking to the UN News Centre, the spokesperson for the [...]

IRIN Africa 6 December 2012 Sexual violence is on the rise as armed groups continue to move across the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu Province, officials say.  Since mid-November, the provincial capital, Goma, has been a site of battle, with rebel group M23 taking control of the city on 20 November. Following negotiations with neighbouring [...]

UNHCR 20th November 2012 As thousands of Congolese flee a rebel advance, the UN refugee agency is calling on governments not to forcibly return people to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North and South Kivu provinces, pending improvement in the security and human rights situations.  ”Our advisory makes the same recommendation for areas neighbouring [...]

The Guardian David Smith 20th November 2012 Just after midnight on 7 July, M23 fighters allegedly went on the rampage in the Congolese village of Chengerero. A 32-year-old woman said they broke down their door, beat her 15-year-old son to death and abducted her husband. Before leaving, the members gang-raped her, poured fuel between her [...]

International Crisis Group Country Reports 20th November 2012 The east Congolese city of Goma and its key airport have reportedly fallen after heavy fighting to the M23 rebel group. Regional and international actors must now prevent this turning into a new regional war.  The past week has shown history repeating itself in eastern Democratic Republic [...]

IRIN 6th November 2012 Torture has become routine in prisons and police stations in the Republic of Congo, according to a 2 November report by the Congolese Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH).   The report is based on a series of field investigations OCDH conducted, with financial support from the European Union, between 2010 and 2012 [...]

International Crisis Group 4 October 2012 Since Bosco Ntaganda’s mutiny in April 2012 and the creation of the 23 March rebel movement (M23), violence has returned to the Kivus. This crisis shows that today’s problems are the same as yesterday’s because the 2008 framework for resolution of the conflict has yet to be put in [...]