NGO calls for "a new page" in human rights protection

Human Rights Watch on Thursday called on the newly-inaugurated transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to afford human rights activists an integral role in shaping the future of the nation. "Now is the time to turn a new page and allow human rights groups and journalists to do their jobs," Alison Des Forges, senior advisor to Human Rights Watch on the Great Lakes, said. "If the new government is to succeed in building a lasting peace, it will have to be based on the rule of law and respect for freedom of expression." The NGO also urged the new government to encourage the participation of human rights groups in key aspects of the transition, including justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity and a truth and reconciliation process. As a first step, it urged the new minister for human rights, Marie Kalala, to hold consultations with human rights groups in different regions of the country within her first month in office. In a background paper on freedom of expression and freedom of assembly also issued on Thursday, Human Rights Watch presented at least 20 cases of arrest, beating, and intimidation of human rights defenders, civil society activists, and independent journalists that they have documented across the DRC in the past three months. It warned that human rights defenders in the DRC were under increasing attack despite the recent signing of a peace accord. [The paper is available online at www.hrw.org] However, the NGO said that the new government now had an opportunity to break this pattern. "Human rights activists have put their lives on the line throughout this war, bringing to light its worst atrocities," said Des Forges. "The new government should protect these brave people." It cited what it deemed to be several positive recent developments, including the release of Donatien Kisangani Mukatamwina, an Uvira-based activist who had been detained without charge for 13 days and beaten by the former rebel movement Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma); RCD-Goma's removal of a seven-month ban on broadcasting by the independent Radio Maendeleo; and President Joseph Kabila's abolition of the Cour d'Ordre Militaire in Kinshasa. A similar appeal was made on Tuesday by Kinshasa-based media rights NGO Journaliste en danger, who called on the government to use the current momentum for change in the country to ensure that it gives top priority to freedom of expression. [See earlier IRIN story, "Media rights NGO demands guaranteed freedom of expression"]