The 63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council opened Monday in Geneva, Switzerland, offering the international body a platform to assess human rights conditions worldwide.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, abuses against civilians persist, particularly in the eastern provinces, where residents endure drone strikes and other attacks. Meanwhile, in the west, human rights groups report a surge of arbitrary detentions and secret imprisonment.
Documented violations, but perpetrators rarely held to account
Rights organisations describe the situation in the DRC as deeply alarming, both in the east—partly under the control of the AFC/M23 rebels—and in the west, governed by Congolese authorities.
“The United Nations continues to document these violations, as do international and local organisations. On government-controlled territory, people are being held in official prisons or secret cells without knowing the charges against them. Those responsible within state institutions are rarely prosecuted,” says Jean-Claude Katende, president of the African Association for the Defence of Human Rights (ASADHO). His group has repeatedly called out the prevailing impunity.
National human rights body urges sanctions on AFC/M23
The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) attributes the most severe abuses to the AFC/M23. The commission has appealed for international sanctions against the rebels.
“We condemn the extreme violations of human rights and attacks on the right to life in areas occupied by M23 rebels. These are abuses that strike at the core of human rights. Of course, across the whole national territory, we will show in Geneva that there are also violations, but they belong to the traditional category that requires conditions such as a strong economy,” says Paul Nsapu, president of the CNDH.
Beyond the debates in Geneva, human rights defenders in the DRC are demanding concrete action. For them, the central issue is justice: documenting abuses, identifying perpetrators, and ending impunity.
