Congo: Refugees and Displaced People Cannot Find Safety
The scale of the horror in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) exceeds comprehension. An estimated 3.5 million people have perished since 1998 and about 3.8 million have been forced from their homes. An October Amnesty International report, “Democratic Republic of Congo: Ituri: A Need for Protection, A Thirst for Justice,” said, “The violence is now so widespread and safe havens so scarce that the flows of migrants no longer have any precise destination to flee to.”
The vast majority of the homeless originate in the Ituri region in northeastern DRC and roughly 3.4 million of them have stayed within DRC’s borders. Under international law, therefore, they do not meet the definition of “refugee,” but are rather termed “internally displaced persons” (IDPs), a designation that is descriptive rather than legal. As such, the IDPs remain highly vulnerable both to attack and to the deprivations caused by lack of the most basic life-sustaining humanitarian assistance. International humanitarian agencies have virtually no access to the vast majority of the IDPs either to monitor their protection needs or to bring them vital assistance.
In July 2003, an AI research mission visited IDPs in North Kivu Province who had fled Bunia, Ituri’s capital. AI researchers documented IDP accounts of rapes, beatings, and killings as they fled their homes. “The precarious security situation and relative or total lack of humanitarian assistance place the displaced in an even more vulnerable position in terms of human rights violations,” their October report said.
Relatively smaller numbers—though still in the tens of thousands—who fled Bunia after April 2003 crossed an international border and became refugees in Uganda. As refugees, they have certain recognized rights both under the 1951 Refugee Convention and Ugandan law. Rights on paper and rights in reality are not necessarily the same thing, however.
Despite their relatively advantageous position compared to displaced persons still inside the DRC in terms of their rights under international law, the DRC refugees now find themselves in a new situation along the banks of Lake Albert on the Uganda-DRC border that, in reality, makes them nearly as vulnerable as displaced people still inside the DRC. Humanitarian assistance to western Uganda is inadequate and the refugees lack even minimal security. The AI report said, “There is not even basic medical assistance, food rations, or decent housing.” Some refugees are claiming that the very perpetrators of violence against them in the DRC are now residing in and around the camps and settlements in Uganda.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on October 20, 2003 that some refugees are fleeing the camps and settlements in the region of Lake Albert and going to Kampala. OCHA quoted Sarah Amoti Bahinduka, a refugee who left the Kyangwali camp for Kampala at the beginning of October, who said, “There are hundreds of us fleeing. Many of us were living in camps even after identifying the people who killed our relatives. We have reported them to camp authorities and no action has been taken. So we are forced to go to Kampala.”
Another refugee, Rita Birungi, also originally from Kyangwali, reportedly said, “For me, the people who killed my husband are actually living with us. I know who they are and I see them every day. I cannot stay here.”
UN Security Council Resolution 1296 (2000) calls for creating secure environments for refugees, internally displaced people, and other civilians endangered by conflicts, and particularly invites the UN Secretary General to bring to the attention of the Security Council “situations where refugees and internally displaced persons are vulnerable to the threat of harassment or where their camps are vulnerable to infiltration by armed elements.” The Executive Committee of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Conclusion 94 (LIII-2000) found that “the presence of armed elements in refugee camps or settlements…jeopardize the civilian and humanitarian character of asylum and may threaten the national security of States” and says that “separation and internment of combatants should be taken as early as possible” and that “refugee camps and settlements should benefit from adequate security arrangements to deter infiltration by armed elements and the strengthening of law and order.”
Ugandan law, the Control of Aliens Act of 1960, stipulates that all refugees in Uganda must be housed in camps approved and itemized by the Ugandan authorities. This means that the refugees would not be allowed to choose the locations they regard as safer.
AI maintains that international refugee law, specifically Article 26 of the UN Refugee Convention, guarantees refugees “the right to choose their place of residence and to move freely…subject to any regulations applicable to aliens generally in the same circumstances.” AI has called on the Ugandan authorities to provide real protection and assistance for refugees in Uganda and has urged the Ugandan authorities to recognize refugees’ freedom of movement and to adopt a new refugee law that is consistent with international refugee protection principles. AIUSA members have called upon the Ugandan authorities to investigate refugee allegations that their persecutors from the DRC have infiltrated their refugee camps in western Uganda, and, if the allegations prove true, to take concrete measures to address the problem.
In the meantime, AI has called upon the transitional government and all parties to the conflict in the DRC to respect Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions that protect civilians in time of war. Respect for international humanitarian law includes ensuring that humanitarian organizations have safe, unrestricted access to all civilians, including internally displaced persons.
