To live and die for human rights in the DRC

9 Mars / 20:00 / Arditi / Co-presented with the FIDH, for its 90th anniversary, with the OIF and the Delegation of Wallonie-Bruxelles

June 2010 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): the lifeless and half-nude body of Floribert Chebeya is found on the back seat of his car. His friend and fellow activist Fidèle Bazana has disappeared. The suspicious circumstances of this death and forced disappearance mark a watershed in the bloody repression of human rights defenders in this country.

One year later, the Kinshasa-Gombe military court condemns five of the eight police defendants and recognizes the civil responsibility of the RDC. The trial did take place, but justice was not rendered: the guiltiest party, General John Numbi, still goes scot free.

Faced with their growing insecurity, UN member states at the 1998 General Assembly adopted a Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. Since then, the regulatory framework and measures for its application have been reinforced. In 2000, the UN acquired a Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders around the world as well as a control body within the African Union, the African Commission for Human and Peoples' Rights; the latter also appointed a Special Rapporteur for Africa in 2003.

In spite of these initiatives, the conclusions of the most recent annual report from the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders are alarming. When will they be free to act without fear of retaliations, prison or even death?

The FIFDH wishes to pay tribute to the courage of all those who have broken the omerta to denounce the exactions committed in their countries and in the world. In spite of proclaiming the protection of defenders, the application of the Declaration and its accompanying measures is still incomplete and requires sustained commitment by all.

Caroline Simond