Rape, forced labor, reprisal attacks and torture are surging in eastern Congo as the result of the recent UN-backed military offensive, according to a new in-depth survey of nearly 600 villagers carried out by international aid agency Oxfam.
A coalition of 68 aid and human rights groups said the council should make clear to both the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo and the Congolese army that stronger measures to protect civilians are urgently needed during military operations against Rwandan militias.
While Oxfam recognizes that a solution is needed to halt appalling levels of human rights abuses committed by armed rebels, the answer cannot be action that knowingly increases levels of human suffering
According to UN figures, some 250,000 people in the provinces of North and South Kivu have been displaced since mid-January following a military operation targeting the FDLR rebel group.