Democratic follow-up in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Declaration by the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, on behalf of the European Union, on the electoral process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo of 9 December 2011 (A 507/1/11 REV 1),

–   having regard to the final report of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) in DRC presented on 29 March 2009,

–   having regard to the recommendations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC/ CENI), issued in April 2012,

–   having regard to its previous resolutions on the Democratic Republic of Congo,

–   having regard to Rule 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas human rights situation and the democratisation process in Democratic Republic of Congo remain worrying as politically motivated human rights violations increased in run up to the presidential election;

B.  whereas the presidential and legislative elections were chaotic and marred by state security forces attacking opposition candidates, journalists and ordinary citizens and elections monitors considered the result not credible;

C. recalling that the DRC constitution was amended to change the presidential electoral system from two-round voting system to a single round, which favoured the outgoing president Mr Kabila;

D. whereas the outbreak of armed conflict has resulted in widespread and alarming scale of killings, population displacement and sexual violence against women committed by armed rebel groups as well as by government army and police forces;

E.  whereas human rights defenders and journalists in DRC are subject of intimidation, abduction, assassination, which put them in difficult situation to do their job in an independent manner;

F.  whereas failure of civilian and military prosecutors to pursue impartial investigations against those responsible for human rights violation has resulted in encouraging the climate of impunity and the commitment of new crime;

G. whereas the importance of a trial on appeal on Chebeya’s assassination to bring those responsible for his death;

H. whereas atrocities against women are structured around rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, murder which have a far reaching consequences such as on physical and psychological destruction of women;

I.   whereas the issue of illegal exploitation of the country’s natural resources some of which finds their way in other countries including in the EU is one of the factor in fuelling and exacerbating the conflict in RDC;

1.  Believes that building democratic society require above all strong political will and ambitious vision of political leaders, governments as well as opposition, aiming at building political institutions to guarantee human, social, economic and environmental rights of the population;

2.  Is of the view that political leaders, civil society organisations, religious leaders, women’s associations in DRC should reach a national consensus on adequate and appropriate institutions, established and agreed procedures through which democratic practice can be implemented;

3.  Considers that an independent judicial and media system are essential in shaping and regulating the democratic process aiming at reinforcing rule of law, building democratic institutions including functioning parliament, representing political pluralism, and strengthening the role of civil society;

4.  Is of the view that elections are necessary, but not sufficient to create conditions for a democratisation process, which is wider than organising elections; considers that for a democratisation to be successful, it is crucial to engage with social and economic development of a country to fulfil the populations’ basic rights, such as education, health employment;

5.  Calls on the Congolese authorities to conduct an impartial and thorough investigation and bring to justices those responsible for human right violations in conformity with Congolese and international law;

6.  Calls on the Congolese authorities to rehabilitate and reform of the judicial system, the army, and the prison; also calls to provide adequate training and put at their disposal the necessary human and financial resources to combat impunity;

7.  Calls for the DRC Parliament to create the National Human Rights Commission as outlined in the constitution, as a previous step to passing a law on the protection of victims and witnesses of human rights abuses, human rights activist and aid workers and journalist;

8.  Calls on Great Lakes countries to maintain a high level of commitment to jointly promote peace and stability in the region through existing regional mechanism and to intensify their efforts on regional economic development, paying special attention to reconciliation, respect for human rights, fight against impunity, establishment of better judicial accountability, refugee and IDP return and integration;

9.  Welcomes the Congolese authorities effort to implement the legislation which forbids trading and processing of minerals in areas where there is illegal exploitation minerals, such as area controlled by armed groups; call on the Congolese authorities to reinforce the implementation of its legislation to put an end to the illegal exploitation of its mineral resources and urges the DRC to keep making an effort to comply with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives;

10. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the institutions of the African Union, the United Nations Secretary-General, the UN Special Representative on sexual violence in armed conflicts.