‘What we need first is peace. (…) The international community, the UN, has the ability to end what’s happening in eastern RDC – what is happening today in the East is truly alarming.’
Judith Maroy is a Congolese journalist and human rights defender from Bukavu, in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Judith began her advocacy work through LUCHA, a youth-led citizen movement demanding social justice, democratic governance, and equality. She later became a journalist with La Prunelle RDC and co-founded a local organisation advocating for the rights of women, youth, and Indigenous communities.
She is calling for a just, peaceful Congo where young people have opportunities, women’s voices are heard, and no one is displaced in their own country.
On 19 June 2024, Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders expressed alarm at increasing targeting of human rights defenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly in villages and provinces in the east of the country, as the armed conflict intensifies.
“Attacks, intimidation and killings of human rights defenders continue on a daily basis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, despite repeated calls for authorities to step up efforts to investigate human rights violations in the country and arrest and bring perpetrators to justice,” she said
From June 2023 to April 2024, the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office in the DRC documented incidents of intimidation, threats of physical violence, attacks and acts of reprisals targeting 387 human rights defenders and 67 journalists, perpetrated by both State agents and armed groups.
Lawlor noted that two women human rights defenders, members of the Youth Movement for Change (LUCHA), had been facing violence and death threats from Twigwaneho armed group since November 2023.
“When LUCHA organised public protests against recent attacks on their village in the South Kivu province, the rebel group sent armed forces to arrest them, forcing them to flee and go into hiding. To this day, they continue to receive death threats and live in hiding,” the expert said. One of the women’s mothers was abducted by the same rebel group in February 2024 and reportedly executed for not revealing her daughter’s whereabouts.
Obedi Karafuru, a human rights defender and head of the workers’ committee, was shot dead by unidentified men in his home village in rebel-held Rutshuru territory in North Kivu province. The Special Rapporteur noted that he had been working to secure fair compensation for former workers on a logging project and had been complaining to authorities for the past four years about death threats against him and his colleagues. “No investigation has been opened into the murder,” Lawlor said.
A human rights defender received death threats in February 2022 when he questioned the effectiveness of the Government’s state of emergency in North Kivu, stating that authorities had failed to guarantee the safety of the population. “The death threats forced him into hiding, as State authorities never responded to his call for protection,” the expert said. Four women human rights defenders from the women-led organisation Tous pour la Paix et la Cohésion Sociale, have been victims of kidnapping and violence following activities they organised around women’s rights.
The expert noted that the DRC adopted a law on the protection of human rights defenders in 2023, which meets the minimum international standards, and ensures special protection for women human rights defenders as well as physical protection of human rights defenders and their families.
“Many executions of human rights defenders are preceded by death threats,” Lawlor said, referring to the report she presented to the Human Rights Council in 2021. “Unless the physical integrity of human rights defenders is guaranteed, they will not be able to fully contribute to the construction of a just society that respects human rights,” she said.
“I call on authorities in the DRC to take all necessary measures to ensure a safe working space and protection for human rights defenders, as well as to guarantee the exercise of their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association and to effectively and reliably investigate all cases of executions in accordance with international standards, including the Minnesota Protocol, and bring those responsible to justice,” Lawlor said.
“The defenders we’re honouring today work in some of the most dangerous areas of the world, sacrificing their own security to peacefully demand justice and human rights for their communities,” said Andrew Anderson, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders, as he announced the winners in Dublin.
—-
Nurcan Baysal, Turkey – Regional Winner for Europe & Central Asia & Global Laureate
Nurcan is a Kurdish journalist and human rights defender based in Diyarbakir. When the government launched a military offensive in the south-east in 2016, Nurcan spent months visiting Kurdish villages under bombardment, documenting human rights violations, and stopping to help families who’d lost everything in the conflict. Her writings are known for their critical focus on voice women living under the bombardment. When the authorities launched a military operation in Afrin, Nurcan took to social media to demand peace and condemn the violent assault. She was detained for speaking against the violence, and although later released she now faces up to 3 years in jail in a separate case related to her writing. Nurcan, according to authorities’ absurd claims, had “spread propaganda for armed terrorist organizations … and a call for provocative actions.” In addition to her reporting, Nurcan has also co-founded several NGOs, set up a camp to help Yazidi women fleeing the Islamic State, and been a key voice in countless reconciliation programs in the region. [see also: http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/197288-kurdish-journalist-baysal-wins-frontline-defenders-human-rights-prize]
Soni Sori, India – Regional Winner for Asia
Soni Sori is an indigenous and women’s rights defender in the militarised Bastar region of Chattisghar, India, where state-backed paramilitary forces are waging a violent campaign against local Adivasi tribes in the name of combating an armed Maoist insurgency. Soni documents and advocates against violence perpetrated by the paramilitary and police forces, which includes razing villages, burning homes, raping local women, and torturing and sexually assaulting tribes people detained without cause. Soni has also defended a number of educational centres from destruction by Maoist groups. In retaliation for her work, security forces detained and tortured Soni, pushing stones inside of her body and assaulting her for hours. Years later, men attacked her with acid and threatened to do the same to her daughter if she did not cease her advocacy on behalf of tribeswomen raped by the security forces. She has refused to stop her work, and continues to travel into the Maoist regions to speak with survivors of the ongoing conflict. [see also: https://feminisminindia.com/2018/05/18/soni-sori-wins-front-line-defenders-award/] and https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/02/23/human-rights-defenders-in-india-democracy-is-not-enough/
Peaceful Resistance of the Micro-Region of Ixquisis, Guatemala – Regional Winner for the Americas
La Resistencia Pacífica de la Microregión de Ixquisis formed in response to grave rights violations committed in the name of economic advancement in Guatemala. The government has authorised destructive mining and hydroelectric mega-projects in the region despite the widespread opposite from the 59 villages and 7 communities in the municipality. HRDs in the Peaceful Resistance risk their lives to defend the territory. In 2016 alone, there were more than 75 reported attacks against HRDs in the Peaceful Resistance including killings, shootings, harassment, and defamation campaigns.
LUCHA, DRC – Regional Winner for Africa
LUCHA is a non-partisan youth movement formed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that struggles against chronic corruption and impunity in the DRC. Initially focused on
local issues like access to drinking water, electricity, and youth unemployment, in just 6 years the movement has developed into an extensive national-level network of powerful social organisers. Peaceful protests and demonstrations led by LUCHA are routinely attacked by authorities. In October 2017, 5 young protests were killed during a LUCHA-organised demonstration, and many of their members and leaders having been arrested and detained during peaceful assemblies. The Congolese national intelligence agency has detained several members, who have endured physical and psychological abuse in detention.
Hassan Bouras – Regional Winner for the Middle East & North Africa
Hassan Bouras is a journalist, blogger, leading member of the Algerian League of Human Rights, and founding member of the Rejection Front, a coalition against fracking to extract shale gas in Algeria. His reporting on both corruption and torture in Algeria spans more than two decades and because of this work he has been repeatedly targeted by Algerian authorities. He has continued his writing and advocacy despite years of judicial harassment, arbitrary detentions, violent raids on his home, and imprisonment.
Every year, the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award celebrates individuals and groups who speak out for justice. The 2016, award will be shared between world-renowned musician Angélique Kidjofrom Benin and three African youth activist groups: Y’en a marre from Senegal, Le Balai Citoyen from Burkina Faso and LUCHA from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Angélique Kidjo. Credit: Pierre Marie Ziimmerman.
Grammy-winning artist Kidjo fled her homeland Benin in the 1980s after being pressured to perform for the country’s repressive regime. In a 40-year-career spawning 12 albums, she has been a prominent campaigner for freedom of expression and for the education of girls in Africa, as well as against female genital mutilation.
On 15 June 2015, 0ver 200 human rights NGOs urge the Democratic Republic of Congo to show respect for freedom of expression and assembly by freeing the “Filimbi activists“. Expression, Assembly The two activists were arrested three months ago, on 15 March during a pro-democracy youth workshop in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Fred Bauma and Yves Makwambala were arrested at the workshop organized to launch “Filimbi,” a platform to encourage Congolese youth to peacefully and responsibly perform their civic duties. Read the rest of this entry »
Angélique Kidjo. Credit: Pierre Marie Ziimmerman.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 