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ISHR and its partners call on the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to guarantee the rights of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, as well as to adopt laws that ensure the protection of human rights defenders as part of the DRC’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review in 2019.
During the 33rd session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will receive recommendations by other States on measures the Congolese Government should take in order to ensure the strengthening of human rights protection.
In its last UPR in 2013, the DRC accepted 13 recommendations on the protection of human rights defenders and 11 recommendations on the right to freedom of association, expression and the press.
These recommendations, however, have not been fully implemented. Human rights defenders are still victims of threats and deadly attacks because of their work, journalists have been killed for bringing to light human rights violations, and the previous Government has been severely repressing demonstrations by an extreme use of force. Congolese authorities also presented a draft law which would allegedly protect human rights defenders in the country but, instead, would actually have the opposite effect by restricting their rights.
“It is important to highlight that this draft law is incompatible with the UN Declaration on Human Rights and the international obligations of the DRC,” noted Adélaïde Etong, Africa advocacy consultant at ISHR. “It restricts the exercise or protection of defenders’ rights and also imposes unnecessary controls on NGOs receiving financial support, and harsh penalties for non-compliance,” she added.
ISHR, along with SOS Information Juridique Multisectorielle (SOS-IJM), drafted a briefing paper on the situation of human rights defenders in the DRC. This submission is intended to assist States in making recommendations to State governments. The briefing paper calls on the Congolese Government to ensure the implementation of the following recommendations:
On 2 April 2019, the UPR pre-session on the DRC was held and civil society had the opportunity to give an important and crucial insight of the human rights situation on the ground and to propose recommendations to be made to the country in question. At this platform, one organisation and two networks of organisations echoed calls made in ISHR’s briefing paper:
(Photo credit: Flickr/JelenaPrtoric)
Contact: Adelaide Etong Kame, Africa Advocacy Consultant, [email protected]
We are celebrating longstanding and collective efforts in supporting human rights defenders. Join us and find out more!
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