Resolution on the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Forum on the participation of NGOs at the 39th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights,

Considering that the three-year political transition period will end with the organization of Presidential and Legislative elections on the 30th July 2006, beyond the Constitutional deadline of the transition;

Considering that the end of the electoral process falls within a climate of strong political and social tensions, and of major insecurity, particularly in the region of Kivu and the Ituri District where the regular armed forces of the FARDC are fighting against the militia of the Congolese Resistance Movement on the one hand and the Rwandan rebels of the FDLR against the FARDC and other Congolese militia on the other;

Recalling the recent declarations of the Security Council on the presence of Ugandan rebels on Congolese territory;

Considering the serious Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law violations perpetrated in the East of the country by the regular armed forces, the rebel armed groups, the security services and the forces of law and order against the civilian populations, giving rise to the forced displacement of a large number of people;

Considering in particular the massive upsurge of sexual violence against women and the recurrent violations of the rights of children;

Considering the serious threats, harassment and violence perpetrated against human rights defenders and journalists who denounce these serious Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law violations;

Welcoming with satisfaction the bringing of Thomas Lubanga before the International Criminal Court to answer for war crimes committed from the 1st July 2002 in the Ituri District;

Deeply concerned by the impunity enjoyed at the national level by the majority of the perpetrators of serious Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law violations due notably to the subordinated nature of the judicial system and the failure to incorporate within the Congolese domestic laws the international provisions for the protection of human rights which had been ratified by the Democratic Republic of Congo;

Deploring the insufficiency of the resources placed at the disposal of the Congolese civilian society to sensitize and prepare the populations for the electoral process;

Noting the difficulties encountered in the process of integrating and training an Army and a National Police Force on the eve of elections;

Taking into account the final observations formulated by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in March 2006;

Hereby requests the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to adopt a Resolution:

1. Condemning the serious Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law violations perpetrated by the regular Armed Forces, the rebel Armed Groups, the Security Services and the Forces of Law and Order against the civilian populations;
2. Requesting the relevant National Authorities to independently investigate the serious Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law violations and, if need be, to pursue and bring their perpetrators to justice;
3. Requesting the National Authorities to use all necessary measures, notably budgetary ones, to guarantee the independence and efficiency of the judiciary in conformity with Articles 6 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights;
4. Recommending to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to pursue his investigations on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the purpose of extending the legal proceedings to other cases of serious Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law violations committed on the 1st July 2002 everywhere in the territory;
5. Requesting the organs of the International Criminal Court to guarantee the security of the witnesses and victims who participate in the proceedings before the Court;
6. Requesting the National Authorities to cooperate fully with the organs of the Court and notably to adopt within the domestic legislation a law allowing the adaptation of the provisions of the Statutes of the International Criminal Court;
7. Requesting the National Authorities to guarantee the full exercise of and respect for the freedoms of expression, of movement and of action by the Human Rights Defenders, in conformity with the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to the Resolutions of the Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the protection of Human Rights Defenders and to the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1998;
8. Requesting the National Authorities to take all the necessary measures to guarantee the organization of free and democratic elections in conformity with Article 13 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 25 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights;
9. Requesting the National Authorities to guarantee the security of all the members of Civil Society and the members of the Political Parties during the elections, notably by accelerating the integration process of an Army and a National Police Force;
10. Requesting the National Authorities to guarantee the presence of national and international Observers having the mandate to guarantee the credibility and transparency of the elections;
11. Making provision for the fielding of a mission by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, comprising notably of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders;

Done in Banjul, 8 May 2006