An independent UN expert on Wednesday expressed grave concern over the safety of human rights defenders in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where they are increasingly facing reprisals for their work, APA learned on Thursday.
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor said in a statement on Wednesday that immediate assistance is essential for human rights defenders under threat in the DRC, including support for their temporary relocation with their families.
“They need immediate assistance, including support for temporary relocation with their families,” she said.
The situation is worsening amid the continued advance of the M23 armed group in eastern DRC.
Defenders who document and denounce human rights violations committed by the rebel group are finding themselves directly targeted and living in fear.
Since late January, M23 rebels, backed by Rwandan forces, have taken control of the major cities of
Goma and Bukavu in North and South Kivu provinces, areas rich in mineral resources. The fighting has caused thousands of deaths and forced hundreds of thousands to flee.
“Recently, a defender informed me that the M23 rebels had drawn up lists of human rights defenders to arrest in the areas they control,” Ms. Lawlor said.
She also revealed that she had received credible information about human rights defenders being held incommunicado, kidnapped and tortured in Rutshuru and Masisi, North Kivu. In addition, at least six defenders are missing after attempting to flee Goma when the M23 took over the city in late January.
“One defender asked me how he could continue to hide while the M23 began to conduct a census in Goma,” Mary Lawlor added.
In addition to the threat from the M23, there is also the threat from prison escapees in Goma and neighbouring South Kivu.
Thousands of detainees, including violent criminals and leaders of armed groups convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity, are now free and roaming the streets. Some of these escapees pose a direct threat to human rights defenders, particularly those who have provided assistance to victims and witnesses in trials.
The Special Rapporteur also highlighted the threat to victims, particularly women, who are left without resources or protection.
“We know that conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence in eastern DRC is endemic and that women who speak out against human rights violations in such contexts, and who become visible through their work, often bear the brunt,” Ms. Lawlor said.
Mary Lawlor drew attention to the heightened dangers for defenders in remote rural areas of the east of the country.
“Defenders were already under threat in the region – both from the government and from armed
groups – but as one woman human rights defender described in an interview with me, there is now no respite, there is constant insecurity and there is no protection,” she said, calling on the
international community to assume its collective responsibility to protect these human rights defenders and provide them with immediate and decisive support.
ODL/te/Sf/fss/as/APA