UN committee urges better human rights protection

Congo’s civil war and difficult times did not exonerate the government from complying with its human rights obligations, an expert on the UN Human Rights Committee said on Tuesday. At a review of Congo’s second periodic report on its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, another UN committee member said the government needed to address the question of a timetable to achieve human rights. While the Government should be careful not to go too fast, the creation of a constitutional and legal framework for the protection of human rights was crucial, a UN statement quoted the committee member as saying.

In response, government representative Basil Ikouebe told the committee that the country’s planned three-year transition period could not be respected because of the outbreak of war. It would not have been appropriate to engage in “democratic window dressing” during that period, he said. Ikouebe also said the estimated 810,000 people displaced by the war would not have been able to vote if elections had been held earlier. Elections were now scheduled to take place next year, he added.