The dramatic liquidity crisis currently impacting the UN and its global partners has already prevented a high-level human rights probe into the DRC emergency created in February from getting underway.
According to testimonies gathered by OHCHR investigators into widespread violence in DRC’s North and South Kivu since January, members of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel paramilitary group “systematically” carried out widespread sexual violence, including gang rape and sexual slavery.
And as M23 fighters captured major cities in North and South Kivu including Goma, “women and girls were disproportionately targeted,” explained OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, in reference to a Fact-Finding Mission report into the DRC emergency for the Human Rights Council.
“But men, boys, and LGBT individuals were also victims of sexual violence, including in detention.”
That report documents the failure by all parties to adequately protect civilians in the conduct of hostilities, particularly during the takeover of Goma by M23 and RDF in late January, as well as attacks on schools and hospitals.
Loaded into trucks
Information gathered by the Fact-Finding Mission indicated that hundreds of children were detained by M23 members this year – and that many were forcibly recruited to fight against government forces, the FARDC.
“M23 detained thousands of civilians, primarily during cordon-and-search operations conducted almost daily since January,” the mission’s report explains.
“Many of those detained – mostly able-bodied men and boys around 15 and older – were loaded into trucks and taken away. Relatives of detainees recounted searching for their loved ones going from one place of detention to another, but being chased away, threatened or beaten.”
The report to the Human Rights Council was intended to serve as a basis for a potential war crimes probe by another senior investigative body – a Commission of Inquiry – that the forum’s 47 Member States created in February this year.
But the cash crunch affecting the UN’s human rights work has left the panel without adequate funding to carry out its mandate, Ms. Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva.
Peace deal hopes shattered
The report also expresses concern over the lack of focus on accountability and support for victims in the peace agreement signed between the DRC and Rwanda on 27 June.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, urged action and accountability following the publication of the report. “It is heartbreaking and deeply frustrating to witness, once again, the dehumanization of the civilian population by those in power who are failing in their responsibilities,” he said.
“The swift implementation of the Commission of Inquiry mandated by the Human Rights Council to continue this vital work is essential,” he insisted. “We owe no less to the untold number of victims.”
All warring parties bear responsibility
Responding to questions, Ms. Shamdasani noted that information featuring in the DRC report indicated that gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law had been committed by all parties to the conflict – “by the M23, supported by Rwandan Defense Forces, as well as Congolese Armed Forces and affiliated armed groups”.
She added that the M23 group, “with training, material, intelligence, and operational support from the Rwandan Defense Forces”, captured major cities in North and South Kivu.
Detained and tortured
They then engaged in a campaign of intimidation and violent repression through a recurrent pattern of summary executions, torture and enforced disappearances and forced recruitment, such that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that M23 fighters may have committed crimes against humanity, Ms. Shamdasani added.
Rapes were repeated over prolonged periods, she said, often in conjunction with additional acts of physical and psychological torture and other ill-treatment, with the intent to degrade, punish and break the dignity of victims.
Civilians try to return home to Sake in the DR Congo, after fleeing an assault by M23 rebels.
“Hundreds of children were detained by M23, and young males forcibly recruited. The report exposes the enormous toll of the conflict on children of all ages,” the OHCHR spokesperson added.
The fact-finding mission report identifies daily violations across the entirety of the territory under the M23’s control, indicating a high degree of organization, planning, and resource mobilization.
The report also documents grave violations committed by the government FARDC forces and affiliated groups, such as the Wazalendo. It highlights a pattern of killing of civilians and the widespread use of sexual violence, mainly gang rape and rape against women and girls, and looting by members of the FARDC, and Wazalendo during their retreat from the front lines in January and February.
“The report further finds that both DRC and Rwanda bear responsibility for their support to armed groups with known track records of serious abuses, and for failing to meet their obligations to take all measures to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and to protect civilians from serious harm,” Ms. Shamdasani noted.
Help for victims
The UN human rights office supports victims of sexual and gender-based violence by focusing on their needs.
The office also provides technical assistance and legal frameworks to countries to promote women’s and girls’ human rights, to prevent and protect them from gender-based violence.
As part of their work, UN workers engage with school, religious and community leaders to challenge harmful gender norms about girls’ education and their acceptable roles in society. They also lead discussions on the negative consequences of early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.