Democratic Republic of Congo authorities have made no apparent progress investigating the September 2020 prison riot at Kasapa Central Prison in Lubumbashi, Human Rights Watch said. For three days, inmates repeatedly raped several dozen female detainees, including a teenage girl. The authorities should provide survivors with adequate medical care and mental health support. They should credibly and impartially investigate the incident, including officials who ignored repeated warnings of the impending riot, and fairly prosecute those responsible for abuses. Illustrations and animations by Edizon Musavuli.

NDC-R fighter holding a gun.

Over 500 People Killed in Ethnic Attacks

Failed Oversight Enables Labor, Environmental Harm

Girls suffered sexual violence and other abuses when armed groups attacked hundreds of schools during the 2016-2017 Kasai conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) in a report released today. The violence affected all children, but girls were particularly harmed, used as “magical” forces that would ward off bullets despite being unarmed, and raped and forcibly “married” to troops.  

Rwandan authorities have failed to release their investigations of the fatal shooting of 12 protesting refugees by police in western Rwanda on February 22, 2018.

Security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo summarily killed at least 27 young men and boys and forcibly disappeared 7 others during an anti-crime campaign between May and September 2018. The campaign, known among the police as “Operation Likofi IV,” targeted alleged gang members in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa. 

If President Kabila doesn’t take concrete steps soon towards fair and free elections, the whole region could be at risk.

Security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo used excessive force, including teargas and live ammunition, against peaceful protesters at Catholic churches in the capital, Kinshasa, and other cities on December 31, 2017.