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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Indications of genocide in Ituri exist, rights envoy says

BUNIA, 1 September 2003 (IRIN) - The UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iulia Motoc, said on Sunday that there were indications that genocide may have occurred in the eastern district of Ituri.

"The crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity that may have been committed in Ituri must be answered for," she said at a news conference in Bunia, the main town in the embattled Ituri District.

Motoc, who arrived in the country on 28 August for a 10-day working visit, is due to submit a report in November to the UN General Assembly on the situation of human rights violations in the country.

"My role is an investigative one, it will be for the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute all those suspected of involvement in these crimes," she said.

Motoc is focusing on violence against women, child protection and demobilisation of child soldiers and the situation of internally displaced people (IDPs). She visited an IDP camp near Bunia airport where the majority of the 11,240 people there are women and children.

"In Bunia, I was told that whenever the UPC [Union des patriotes congolais - a Hema militia group] attacked, there was a lot of rape and violence against women," she said.

She said that during her March visit to Goma, North Kivu Province, she said saw women who had been raped several times.
Motoc has already visited the capital, Kinshasa, and is due to visit Bukavu from Monday.

On 16 July, the International Criminal Court announced in The Hague announced that it had selected Ituri District as "the most urgent situation" under its jurisdiction to be addressed.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Human Rights

[ENDS]

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