WUNRN
UN News Centre
CONGO - INITIAL FINDINGS BY UN
CONFIRM HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN RECENT CONFLICT - WOMEN &
GIRLS
AMIDST RECENT VIOLENCE - WOMEN &
GIRLS
Women
wait for food to be distributed at the Mugunga III camp in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC). Photo: UNHCR/S.Kpandji
18 December 2012 – Preliminary
findings by United Nations investigators have documented at least 126 rapes and
the killing of two civilians – one a minor – during a probe into human rights
violations in a part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that recently
experienced a new eruption of violent clashes and civilian displacements, a UN
spokesperson said today.
A parallel investigation by the
armed forces of DRC, known by the French acronym FARDC, has led to the arrest
of nine FARDC soldiers, two in connection with the rapes, and seven in
connection with lootings, the spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, told a news
briefing at UN Headquarters in
The probes are focused on
allegations of violations committed between 20 and 30 November in and around
Minova, a town close to the city of
According to media reports,
there have been allegations that FARDC soldiers raped dozens of women in Minova
during the army’s retreat from Goma.
The UN investigators are with
the UN Joint Human Rights Office (JHRO), a collaboration between the UN
Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Mr. Nesirky said two JHRO teams
visited the Minova area this month and interviewed more than 200 people, though
investigations are ongoing.
“The UN Mission is supporting
the (DRC) military justice procedure in conducting thorough investigations into
these allegations to ensure that the perpetrators are identified and held
accountable,” he said.
Addressing reporters after
briefing the UN Security Council on the latest developments involving the M23
on Tuesday evening, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations,
Hervé Ladsous, confirmed that 126 women had been raped during the M23’s
offensive, and that many of the violations may have, in fact, been committed by
troops belonging to the FARDC. He pointed out that due to the “allegations of
terrible violations,” a UN report inquiring into the events would be released
later in January.
In addition, Mr. Ladsous
conceded that there were concerns regarding the “many movements of various
elements” in the provinces of North and
Nevertheless, he denied reports
that up to 4,000 soldiers belonging to the mainly Hutu armed group known as the
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) were closing in on Goma.
“There have been movements
around the area of Goma, but in the hundreds, not in the thousands,” he said,
adding the MONUSCO was “very much on the alert, patrolling constantly to
monitor the situation.”
Meanwhile, in his comments at
the news briefing earlier in the day, Mr. Nesirky noted that MONUSCO officials
met today with DRC’s Vice Prime Minister Mutombo Bakafwa Nsenda, who also
serves as Minister of Defence, to share initial findings. He added that MONUSCO
is working with the DRC Government to identify the FARDC units in which the
arrested soldiers served.
According to Mr. Nesirky,
identifying the units will allow MONUSCO to review the exact nature of any
support in accordance with the UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy, which
contains principles to be followed on the part of any UN entity when supporting
non-UN security entities.
The investigations come amid
continuing tensions in the region even though the M23 – made up of former
national army troops who mutinied in April and named after a 23 March 2009
peace agreement that they reportedly say has not been implemented – ended their
occupation of Goma after 11 days and are now in political talks with the DRC
Government in the Ugandan capital of Kampala.
Media reports have said the M23
also face allegations of killing and raping civilians and looting towns during
the clashes that took place last month. The reports also highlight that several
other armed groups in the area have been involved in the wider regional
violence.
According to the UN Children’s
Fund (UNICEF),
almost 400 women and girls were sexually assaulted amid the regional fighting
and advance on Goma. “Women and girls in the displacement camps are living in
constant fear of being attacked or sexually molested,” a UNICEF spokesperson,
Marixie Mercado, said in an interview with UN Radio.
Separately, the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
today issued an alert about the presence of armed groups in and around a camp
west of Goma hosting up to 15,000 of the estimated 177,000 civilians driven
from their homes amid the M23 advance.
The armed groups were “fuelling
worries” among the inhabitants of the Mugunga III camp for internally displaced
persons (IDPs), said a UNHCR spokesperson, Adrian Edwards,
who added that the agency saw their presence as a “serious concern.”
Already this month, armed men
have staged at least three attacks, Mr. Edwards said. In one, they raped several
women and looted supplies in the camp, while in another, three people were shot
and wounded when gunmen looted several homes around Mugunga III and demanded
goods or money.
A third attack left two people
inside the camp injured by gunfire after four armed men “apparently looking for
aid items, including plastic sheeting” entered, according to Mr. Edwards.
While Mugunga III is one of 31
established IDP sites throughout
“Civilians must be kept out of
harm’s way and any deployment of armed men in densely populated areas should be
avoided,” he said at the briefing in
“It exposes IDPs to risks of
violence in violation of their fundamental rights, including the right to
physical safety and integrity,” Mr. Edwards noted.
He added that fighting farther
north in the eastern DRC has caused about 4,000 people to flee into
“Most of the new arrivals are women
with small infants and separated or unaccompanied children,” he said. “UNHCR is
prioritizing identification of the unaccompanied children to ensure that those
most at risk, particularly adolescent boys, are protected.”