Martin Kobler, Head of MONUSCO and Jose Maria Aranaz, Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the DRC call for strengthened policies to address enforced disappearances

Kinshasa, 30 August 2015 – “On the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, I encourage the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to consider ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Indeed, reported cases of enforced disappearances especially of civil society, opposition leaders and media actors are a matter of concern for the United Nations. I therefore call on the authorities to strengthen administration of justice in an effort to effectively counter this phenomenon”, declared Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in the DRC.

This celebration is a reminder that enforced disappearances remain a worldwide challenge to protection of fundamental rights and human security and are therefore not restricted to a specific region of the world. They have frequently been used as a strategy of intimidation". Several persons were abducted and taken to unknown destinations throughout the DRC, by security forces, notably during military operations, in addition to kidnappings by armed groups such as the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) or the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). These abductions followed by enforced disappearances are international crimes and must be taken into account during the rendition processes of these groups.

Noting that numerous families are yet to receive news of their relatives arrested in the ambit of “Opération Likofi” carried out by the Congolese National Police, the Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the DRC, Jose Maria Aranaz calls on the national authorities “to publish the results of the investigations into Opération Likofi and encourages the Government to provide all necessary support to the families of the victims."

Notes to editors:
On 21 December 2010, by its resolution 65/209 the UN General Assembly expressed its deep concern, in particular, by the increase in enforced or involuntary disappearances in various regions of the world, including arrest, detention and abduction, when these are part of or amount to enforced disappearances, and by the growing number of reports concerning harassment, ill-treatment and intimidation of witnesses of disappearances or relatives of persons who have disappeared.

By the same resolution the Assembly welcomed the adoption of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and decided to declare 30 August the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, to be observed beginning in 2011.

The DRC is not party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance which entered into force on 23 December 2010. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances which is responsible for its implementation is composed of 10 independent experts and was established in November 2011. The Convention is foremost a legal instrument with a preventive character that fills the gaps between other human rights treaties and international criminal law.