Search Results for: Democratic Republic of the Congo

A coalition of advocacy organizations and individuals filed a lawsuit Monday, challenging US President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending refugee admissions. The complaint, filed by HIAS, Inc., Church World Service, Inc., and Lutheran Community Services Northwest, alongside multiple individual refugees, argues that the suspension is unconstitutional and unlawfully dismantles the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), [...]

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The UN Human Rights Council established on Friday an urgent fact-finding mission and commission of inquiry into atrocities committed by all parties to the armed conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The resolution was passed by consensus during the thirty-seventh special session, which was held at the DRC’s request. With a resurgence [...]

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed concern on Friday over the recent escalation of violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), particularly in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group continues its offensive. According to the statement, “Since 26 January, nearly 3,000 people have been [...]

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The M23 group of the alliance of rebel groups in the eastern part of the DRC, known as the Congo River Alliance declared a unilateral ceasefire for humanitarian reasons in a statement on Monday. The ceasefire will start on Tuesday, 4 February. The alliance stated that it had no intention of capturing other areas of [...]

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INTERPOL and AFRIPOL conducted an international counter-terrorism operation in East Africa on Monday. The operation resulted in the arrest of 37 suspects and the seizure of small arms and heavy weapons, with a suspected linkage to ISIS, Al Shabaab and other foreign terrorist fighters. The arrested suspects included three people in Somalia, including a suspected [...]

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The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss the escalation of violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as M23 forces supported by Rwanda advance towards the border city of Goma. UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix opened the meeting by condemning the resumption of hostilities on the DRC’s [...]

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Amnesty International called for an end to the use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo in a press release on Sunday. The organization also called upon the International Criminal Court to consider investigating such attacks as war crimes. Amnesty claims that “inaccurate explosive weapons,” including primarily unguided rocket [...]

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Amnesty International on Tuesday called on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to halt the planned execution of 170 prisoners on death row, urging the DRC to move toward abolishing the death penalty. Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International deputy regional director for East and Southern Africa, stated: We fear imminent mass executions by the authorities amid [...]

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Legal and structural obstacles persist in bringing justice by victims of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers, the International Peace Institute (IPI) reported Tuesday. The report emphasizes the need for a more unified and victim-centered approach to address sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) and sexual harassment (SH) within UN peace operations. While SEA committed against host [...]

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Amnesty International on Wednesday called for an investigation into three senior officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for their alleged involvement in possible crimes against humanity during a violent crackdown on a demonstration in Goma city last year. The report, titled “Operation Keba: Massacre by the Army in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Goma [...]

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