This archive report was first published on 26 July 2019.
Published on July 26, 2019, the United Nations reported nearly 700 summary and extrajudicial executions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January and June 2019.
According to a U.N. half-year report from its joint office for Human Rights (UNJHRO), security and law enforcement officials were responsible for at least 245 extrajudicial killings, while armed groups carried out at least 418 summary executions during the six-month period.
The report documented 3,039 human rights violations and abuses throughout the DRC, down from 3,324 in the same period last year, said Abdul Aziz Thioye, director of the U.N. Human Rights Office in the DRC.
Thioye noted that members of the security forces were responsible for 59 percent of the violations, while armed groups were responsible for 41 percent.
“Among the state agents, the [Congolese] soldiers… are those who committed the greatest number of violations, with more than a quarter of the total number of violations documented by the UNJHRO during the six months,” Thioye added.
The overall decline in rights violations was largely attributed to the change in the political scene since January, when President Felix Tshisekedi took over from his predecessor Joseph Kabila, who was in power for 18 years.
