Martin Kobler, Head of MONUSCO, profoundly concerned at the request of DRC Government calling for the departure of Scott Campbell

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Kinshasa, 18 October 2014 – Martin Kobler, Head of MONUSCO, is deeply disturbed by the request of the DRC government, calling for the departure of Scott Campbell, the chief of the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) and calls upon the government to reconsider its decision.

“I express my full confidence and trust in Scott Campbell and the work undertaken by his whole team. The Likofi report was prepared in accordance with the Security Council mandate for MONUSCO and followed the methodology used by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. I take full responsibility for its conclusions and recommendations” declared the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the DRC.

The human rights reports published jointly by MONUSCO and the UNJHRO are important catalysts ensuring good governance leading to stability. Human Rights defenders play an important role in the DRC and they must be able to work unimpeded.

The Likofi report is an important instrument in the fight against impunity in the DRC. The report was shared with the Government on 18 August 2014, comments by the Minister of Interior were annexed to the report published.

Note to Editors:

The United Nations report detailing serious violations of human rights, including summary and extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, committed against civilians by Congolese security forces in the context of Operation “Likofi”, was officially launched on Wednesday 15 October 2014.

The report, based on investigations conducted by the UNJHRO in the DRC documents the killings of at least nine civilians and the enforced disappearance of at least 32 civilians by agents of the Congolese national Police (PNC).

The UNJHRO took note of the decision taken by the General Commissioner of the PNC on 15 August to set up a commission of inquiry aimed at investigating and identifying abuses allegedly committed by PNC agents in the scope of “Operation Likofi”. Scott Campbell is the Director of the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office in the DRC and the Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the DRC.