The United Nations Group of Experts has made an unequivocal finding: in its final report released on June 11, 2026, it identifies the AFC/M23 as the non-state armed group responsible for the largest share of international humanitarian law violations in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Systematic executions, destruction of villages, burning of livelihoods in the Bwito and Bwisha chiefdoms of Rutshuru, and a humanitarian blockade in Minembwe that cuts the Banyamulenge population off from basic necessities — the list of atrocities is damning.
Conflict-related sexual violence, for which the AFC/M23 is the main perpetrator recorded by the United Nations, has reached levels described as “unprecedented” since 2024, with women and girls disproportionately affected.
The report also notes that the FARDC constitutes the primary state actor responsible for violations — a dual designation that implicates all belligerents and complicates the narrative of a conflict that some seek to portray as a mere external aggression.
