Resolution on the Situation in DRC
We, Participants of the Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the 44th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples ‘Rights,
Considering the resumption of hostilities in the East of the DRC in the Kivus, since August 2008, and particularly the current fighting around the town of Goma between, on the one hand, the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and the militia under their control and, on the other hand, the armed rebels including in particular the Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP) led by the deposed General Laurent Nkunda;
Condemning the serious human rights violations committed by all the parties to the conflict, particularly summary and extrajudiciary executions, arbitrary detentions, torture, sexual crime as a weapon of war, the enrolment of child soldiers, violations of the rights of human rights defenders and the freedom of expression;
Considering the violation of the Goma Peace Agreement of January 2008;
Recalling the resolutions adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, particularly that adopted during its 42nd ordinary session in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, on sexual crimes committed in the DRC;
Noting that the report of the DRC will be considered at the 44th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Nigeria;
Considering the serious violations of the rights of human rights defenders, particularly women, in the province of North Kivu;
Considering Resolution 1325 of the United Nations Security Council on sexual crimes in the DRC;
The Forum is asking the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to adopt a resolution:
1. Condemning the serious violations of the rights guaranteed by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and international crimes, particularly the serious violations of the right to life and physical integrity committed by all the parties;
2. Calling on all the parties to the conflict to immediately cease the fighting and put a stop to the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law;
3. Calling on all the parties to guarantee the physical integrity of the civilian population and their access to humanitarian aid;
4. Urgently calling on the neighbouring States to stop all support to armed groups operating in the DRC;
5. Asking for the ACHPR to send a fact-finding mission to the DRC to investigate the human rights situation;
6. Asking the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to give a specific mandate to the Commissioner in charge of the DRC to regularly update the ACHPR on developments in the situation in that country;
7. Holding the parties to the conflict responsible for any violations of the right to life, physical integrity, freedom of movement and action of human rights defenders operating throughout the country.
Done in Abuja, November 9th, 2008
