On the occasion of a United Nations report of grave human rights violations in Congo, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) today called for more initiatives to stop the crimes from going unpunished in this central African nation. "If the outrage kindled by this report just dies out, the government of the Congo and the international community must do more to establish a credible, politically unbiased system of justice in that country," stated Ulrich Delius, head of the Africa section at the STP. To date, however, the Congolese government has not displayed the political will to hold the perpetrators accountable for their heinous crimes, Ulrich continued.

The report is like an inventory of horror: 555 pages documenting 617 serious human rights violations committed between March 1993 and June 2003 in Congo. From July 2008 to June 2009 the United Nations had 1280 witnesses interviewed, and documented their accounts in this report. Neighboring countries are charged with human rights violations as well. Even before it was published, the report triggered massive protests from the governments of Rwanda, Uganda and Angola.

"Of course these neighboring nations must face their responsibility for persecution, rape, plundering and murder," said Delius. "But the behavior of the Congolese government in particular, preventing any credible prosecution of these crimes against humanity, is scandalous. This failure to punish the guilty parties continues to this day, in spite of the government's heralded policy of zero tolerance for human rights violations."

"It is outrageous that a country in which egregious human rights abuses are committed spent only 0.22% of its budget on the judiciary in 2009," Delius criticized. "The justice system in Congo is rife with corruption, abuse of power, nepotism and a lack of personnel and funding. Without credible civil and military jurisdiction, this arbitrariness and impunity cannot be stopped." Many of the human rights violations are committed not only by militias but also by regular soldiers. As many as 220 Congolese human rights organizations explicitly advocated publication of the report which has stirred up so much controversy in the neighboring states. Congolese human rights activists hope the report will strengthen efforts to bring to justice those responsible for these grave human rights abuses.

For further information, please contact Ulrich Delius.

Translated by Elizabeth Crawford