What's new

Welcome

If you already have an account, please login, but if you don't have one yet, you are more than welcome to freely join the community of lawyers around the world..

Register Log in
  • We don't have any responsibilities about the news being sent in this site. Legal News are automatically being collected from sources and submitted in this forum by feed readers. Source of each news is set in the news and a link to its source is always added.
    (Any News older than 21 days from its post time will be deleted automatically!)

Jurist UN expert urges support for human rights defenders in DRC

Status
Not open for further replies.
  • Thread starter
  • Staff
  • #1

Dadparvar

Staff member
Nov 11, 2016
9,721
0
6
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders called on Wednesday for support for human rights defenders in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

UN expert Mary Lawlor recognized the deteriorating situation in the DRC. Lawlor claimed, “Human rights defenders in the eastern DRC are currently at extreme risk of reprisals for their human rights work”. The Special Rapporteur also received information on M23 rebels’ plans to apprehend a list of human rights defenders. Individuals are targeted for documenting and denouncing human rights violations committed by the M23 armed group. Lawlor urged the international community to support human rights defenders in the region, providing support for temporary relocations.

Lawlor argues that as human rights activists face threats and are targeted by armed groups and violent criminals, “victims have no one to turn to”.

The UN Special Rapporteur also specified the dangers of sexual violence faced by women defenders. Lawlor mentions, “We know that conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence in eastern DRC is rampant, and that women who take a stand against human rights violations in such contexts and become visible through their work, often bear the brunt of this”. In isolated rural areas, human rights activists endure further risks. These individuals face killings, enforced disappearances, and torture, amounting to possible violations of Articles 6, 7, and 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The DRC acceded to this covenant in 1976.

The escalating conflict in the DRC caused a deteriorating humanitarian situation. Reports include human rights violations against children, gender-based violence, and threats to the judiciary and activists. Attacks against civilians are not the only violations of humanitarian law in the DRC, as hospitals are also being targeted by M23 rebels. In February, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the attacks of M23 rebels. Furthermore, the resolution urged Rwandan forces to withdraw from the DRC.

The post UN expert urges support for human rights defenders in DRC appeared first on JURIST - News.

Continue reading...

Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top