ituri: “covered in blood” - Human Rights Watch

espect the assistance given its researchers by Congolese human rights organizations and numerous other groups
and individuals who took great risks to provide information. For their safety we have withheld their names and
details necessary to protect their identities.
II. RECOMMENDATIONS
To the Ugandan, Rwandan and DRC Governments:
• Provide no military, financial, or other assistance to armed groups that have committed serious violations of
international humanitarian and human rights law in Ituri. This should include Lendu, Ngiti and Hema militias,
parties such as the UPC and PUSIC, as well as the RCD-ML, RCD-N and the MLC. Use your influence with
these groups to persuade them to halt these abuses.
To the Ugandan Government:
• Investigate alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by Ugandan forces and
bring to justice those accused of having committed such crimes or of having facilitated or tolerated the
commission of such crimes by local groups over which they exercised control.
To the DRC Government:
• Make the development of an effective, independent and impartial national justice system a priority, focusing
efforts first in areas where grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law have been
committed.
• Pass the necessary legislation implementing the establishment of the International Criminal Court. Request
the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conduct a preliminary examination of those cases
within the jurisdiction of the court.
• Request that the U.N. Security Council establish a judicial mechanism to prosecute the most serious
violations of international humanitarian law that are outside the jurisdiction of the ICC.
To the Hema, Lendu, Ngiti and Other Armed Political Groups:
• Direct your combatants to adhere to international humanitarian law in all military operations, particularly as it
relates to the protection of civilians and the provision of humanitarian aid. Investigate alleged violations of
international humanitarian law, including those described in this report, and hold combatants accountable for
them.
• Stop the recruitment and training of children under the age of eighteen and disarm, demobilize, rehabilitate
and return to their homes all such children.
To the United Nations:
• The UN Security Council should strengthen the MONUC mandate to one based on chapter VII that allows for
the robust use of force by MONUC troops in protection of the civilian population throughout the DRC.
Provide the force with adequate numbers of troops and the necessary resources and equipment so that it can
fulfill its mandate, particularly with regard to the protection of civilians.
• Urge the commander of the Interim Emergency Multinational Force to interpret the mandate accorded by the
Security Council in resolution 1484 to ensure the full protection of civilians both inside and outside of Bunia.
• In follow up to resolution 1468, the Security Council should establish a credible and effective international
justice mechanism for the DRC to investigate and prosecute grave violations of international humanitarian
law committed by all parties, including citizens of countries other than the DRC from 1996 to July 2002.
• The UN secretary general should establish a team of MONUC human rights investigators in Ituri with
sufficient resources to document and publicly report on violations of international human rights and
humanitarian law.
• The High Commissioner for Human Rights should establish a field office in Bunia to assist the MONUC
human rights team in monitoring and publicly reporting on human rights violations and to strengthen local
human rights organizations.
Human Rights Watch
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July 2003, Vol. 15,No. 11 (A)