MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Failures in protection of human rights and justice

15.9.2010

to wind up the debate on statements by the Council and the Commission
pursuant to Rule 110(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Michał Tomasz Kamiński, Charles Tannock, Tomasz Piotr Poręba, Ryszard Antoni Legutko, Adam Bielan, Ryszard Czarnecki, Jacek Włosowicz, Konrad Szymański, Janusz Wojciechowski on behalf of the ECR Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B7-0524/2010

B7‑B7-0528/2010

European Parliament resolution on Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Failures in protection of human rights and justice

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to its previous resolutions on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),

–   having regard to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement signed in June 2000,

–   having regard to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly resolution of 22 November 2007 on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in particular in the east, and its impact on the region,

–   having regard to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/1 of 24 October 2005 on the 2005 World Summit Outcome, and in particular paragraphs 138 to 140 thereof on the responsibility to protect populations,

–   having regard to the joint statement of 27 August 2010, by Catherine Ashton, the High Representative, and Andris Piebalgs, the EU Development Commissioner, on the resurgence of violence in North Kivu, DRC,

–   having regard to the 2004 EU guidelines for the protection of human rights defenders and the local strategy for implementation of the guidelines for the DRC, adopted by the Heads of Mission on 20 March 2010,

–   having regard to UN Security Council resolution 1856(2008) on MONUC’s mandate,

–   having regard to Rule 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the human rights situation in DRC is not improving, and remains grave; whereas systematic violations, including extrajudicial killings, abductions, sexual violence and acts of torture committed by members of the armed forces, the police, the security services and armed groups, are reported daily,

B.  whereas children are daily victims of human rights violations, including alleged forced recruitment into the armed forces,

C. whereas many NGOs have observed increased oppression of human rights defenders in the DRC in the past year, including illegal arrests, prosecutions, telephone threats and repeated summoning to the offices of the intelligence services,

D. whereas killings are part of a growing trend of intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders, journalists, political opponents, victims and witnesses in the DRC; whereas numerous journalists and human rights activists have been killed in suspicious circumstances in the DRC in the past five years,

E.  whereas a state of civil war has prevailed for years in certain parts of the DRC, resulting in massacres, mass rape and the widespread enlisting of child soldiers,

F.  whereas according to UN sources, 242 rapes occurred in and around the village of Luvungi at the end of July and into August, just about 30 kilometres from a UN base, and in total, more than 500 rapes have occurred in the region since July; whereas reports indicate that the rapes were organized and systematic,

G. whereas the recent massacres were perpetrated mainly by the Rwandan rebel group FDLR (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda) – which is led by perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide who fled to Congo – and Congolese Mai-Mai militia,

H. whereas Atul Khare, the UN assistant secretary general for peacekeeping, conceded that the UN' peacekeepers failed to protect civilians from systematic rapes by armed combatants in eastern Congo at the end of July and into August and was not aware of this until 12 August,

I.   whereas sexual and gender-based violence is widespread in eastern DRC and committed by all sides to the conflicts, including the government forces that the United Nations is supporting; whereas rape has become today a weapon of war and Congo is called the ‘rape capital of the world’,

J.   whereas according to the UN more than 15 000 rapes have been reported in Congo in 2008 and 2009, including children,

K. whereas the natural resources and profit from the extraction and trade of minerals are still under the control of armed groups, especially in the volatile eastern part of the country, where conflict has been ongoing for many years despite the presence of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, MONUC,

1.  Strongly condemns the attacks and mass rape committed by the FDLR and armed Congolese militias (the Mai Mai) with whom they are allied, in the province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 30 July and 4 August 2010;

2.  Deplores all other sexual attacks, in an area called Uvira and other regions of North and South Kivu;

3.  Emphasises the importance to investigate the events in the DRC, to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice;

4.  Calls on the DRC Government to make every effort to protect the civilian population and end impunity for the perpetrators;

5.  Stresses the necessity to immediately review the government's and the United Nations’ tools in order to protect civilians and to address the horrors being inflicted on civilians and to prevent them from recurring;

6.  Calls on the DRC Government to bring security and stability to the people of eastern Congo and for all armed groups in the DRC to lay down their weapons and join the peace process;

7.  Stresses the need to tackle corruption and bring to justice the perpetrators of human rights abuses within the Congolese armed and police forces, and underlines MONUC’s role in preventing this through joint planning and implementation of operations and proper accountability mechanisms for abuses;

8.  Calls on all parties to step up the fight against impunity and to uphold the rule of law; calls on the Government of the DRC to ensure that those responsible for breaching human rights and international humanitarian law are held to account;

9.  Recalls the Government of the DRC’s pledge, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence, to commit itself resolutely to promoting political practice that upholds human rights and strengthens the rule of law;

10. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission/ High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the institutions of the African Union, the United Nations Secretary-General, the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the governments and parliaments of the Great Lakes region.