democratic republic of congo report

8/13/2019 Democratic Republic of Congo Report

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C H I L D S O L D I E R S G L O B A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 8

CONGO, Democrati c

Republic of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Population:57.5 million (31.0 million under 18)Government armed forces:51,000Compulsory recruitment age:no conscriptionVoluntary recruitment age:18Voting age: 18Optional Protocol:ratified 11 November 2001Other treaties ratified (see glossary):CRC, GC AP I and II, ICC, ILO 138, ILO 182

An estimated 7,000 child soldiers

remained in government forces and armed

groups, including foreign armed groupsmostly to be found in the eastern provinces

of Equateur, Ituri, Katanga, North and

South Kivu, and Maniema. They were

used as combatants, porters, guards and

sexual slaves. Children were recruited from

refugee camps in Rwanda and used by

armed groups in North Kivu.

ContextNearly 5.5 million people were estimated to havedied in the Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC) since the beginning of the armed conflict in1998.1Exploitation of mineral and other economicresources fuelled the conflict, which wascharacterized by systematic human rights abusesand population displacement, particularly in theeast and north-east.Following an agreement in2002 a government of national unity took officein July 2003, composed of representatives ofthe former government, major armed groups,

opposition political parties and civil society.

2

Priorities for the transition included restoringsecurity and the extension of state authoritythroughout the national territory, the creation of aunified national army and the demobilization andreintegration of combatants, including children.3The UN mission in the DRC (MONUC) maintaineda peacekeeping force of 16,000 troops across thecountry.4

Delayed presidential and legislative electionswere held in July and October 2006. In DecemberPresident Joseph Kabila was inaugurated and

became head of the DRCs first democraticallyelected government.5However, parts of thecountry remained under the control of differentarmed forces and groups, with some militarycommanders resisting army unification andoperating parallel chains of command. Tensionswere exacerbated by delayed and poorlymanaged army unification, which left thousands

of former combatants without reintegrationsupport.6

Armed activity by foreign armed groupscontinued, causing insecurity, violence anddisplacement in the east. These groups includedthe Rwandan Democratic Forces for the Liberationof Rwanda (Forces dmocratiques pour lalibration du Rwanda (FDLR)), and the UgandanAllied Democratic Forces and National Army forthe Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU). A smallnumber of Ugandan Lords Resistance Armytroops were located in the remote Garamba Parkarea.7By late 2007 about 15,300 foreign fighters,primarily from the FDLR, had been repatriated.8However, regional relations continued to becharacterized by tension and mistrust. In 2004Rwanda threatened three times to renew militaryoperations in the DRC, citing the need to protectCongolese Tutsi and to counter the threat posedby the FDLR.9

Hostilities continued in several areas,particularly Ituri, Katanga, and North and SouthKivu provinces, where ethnic tensions weremanipulated for political ends or control ofeconomic resources in politically or militarilystrategic areas.10Human rights abuses againstcivilians, including rape and murder, were widelycommitted by armed forces and groups involvedin hostilities. Those suspected of committingabuses continued to enjoy near-total impunity. Ahandful of military and armed-group leaders were

arrested and prosecuted, but dozens of otherswere promoted to senior military or governmentpositions.11

Children were recruited and used by allparties to the armed conflict for combat andsupport roles, and thousands of girls were usedas sexual slaves. An estimated 30,000 childrenwere awaiting demobilization from armedforces and other parties to the armed conflictat the end of 2003. Child recruitment by theformer Congolese army officially ended in 2003,although some children remained in individual

units. National army unification and the nationaldisarmament, demobilization and reintegration(DDR) programs did not begin in earnestuntil 2005; some 30,000 children had beendemobilized by mid-2007.12Thousands of others,including many girls, escaped, were abandonedor left the armed forces without being officiallydemobilized. From 2005 the UN reported anoverall reduction in child-soldier recruitment anduse by armed forces and groups a consequenceof a decrease in the number of active fightingzones, the progressive incorporation of armed

groups into the national army and the associateddemobilization process for adults and children.13However, some 7,000 child soldiers remained inarmed groups and the Armed Forces of the DRC(Forces armes de la Rpublique dmocratiquedu Congo, FARDC). Active recruitment continuedin some areas in 2007, particularly in North Kivu.


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Government

National recruitment legislation andpracticeThe February 2006 constitution defined a childas any person below the age of 18. All forms of

exploitation of children were punishable by thelaw (Article 41), and public authorities were underobligation to protect young people from threatsto their health, education and development(Article 42). The organization of military orparamilitary formations, private militias or youtharmies was prohibited (Article 190).

The 2004 Defence and Armed Forces Lawprohibited the individual requisition of one ormore children below the age of 18 in the event ofa mobilization (Article 10) and the maintenanceof a youth army or youth subversive group

(Article 41). Responsibility for child-soldierdemobilization was held by the Minister ofNational Defence, Demobilization and FormerCombatants (Article 25).14A previous decree-law,of 9 June 2000, ordered the demobilization ofchildren below the age of 18 from armed forcesand groups. A May 2005 circular issued by themilitary prosecutor instructed regional and localmilitary prosecutors to initiate proceedingsagainst all those accused of child recruitmentor use in military operations. The same circularinstructed military prosecutors to refer illegally

recruited children accused of crimes to acompetent civilian court, or to the official DDRprogram for demobilization.15

A comprehensive Child Protection Code wasawaiting approval by parliament in October 2007.The code prohibited the forced recruitment ofchildren or their use in armed conflict (Article50a), as well as the enlistment or use ofchildren in the national armed forces, the policeand armed groups (Article 73). Prison termsof between ten and 20 years were specifiedfor these offences (Article 193). The code

criminalized rape, (Article 175) and sexual slavery(Article 189), with prison terms of 725 and1025 years respectively. A wide range of otheracts of sexual violence and exploitation werecriminalized by the code.16

Child recruitment and deploymentChildren remained in FARDC units which hadcompleted the army unification program (knownas integrated units) and in those awaitingunification (non-integrated units). In mid-2006more than 26 cases of child recruitment and

other violations by FARDC were brought to theattention of FARDC chief of staff by MONUC.Children were seen in FARDC brigades inKasai Occidental, Katanga and South Kivu.17FARDC troops undergoing redeployment inIturi and the Kivus abducted children to carryequipment and belongings.18In mid-2007

local sources reported seeing children used asguards and wives in integrated and non-integrated units in the Fizi area, South Kivu.Children interviewed complained of lack of foodand harsh conditions.19Some child soldierswere abandoned by commanders en route tounification centres in several locations, includingSouth Kivu and Katanga, possibly for fear ofprosecution.20Children captured from armedgroups were detained by FARDC members inorder to gather information on armed groupsor to extort money from family members. Somehad been beaten while in detention. Former childsoldiers faced intimidation and harassment byFARDC members, including non-respect for theirofficial demobilization certificates.21

Armed groups

Child recruitment in armed units loyalto Laurent NkundaChild soldiers were actively recruited and usedin hostilities by FARDC brigades and other armedunits loyal to Laurent Nkunda, predominantlyin North Kivu. Recruitment intensified in late2006 and continued throughout 2007. Nkunda,a former military officer of the armed wing of theRwanda-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy(Rassemblement Congolais pour la Dmocratie-Goma, RCD-Goma), remained hostile to the

army unification process and exerted controlover troops and territory. Troops loyal to Nkundaclashed with the FARDC in Bukavu in 2004 andin Sake in August and November 2006, afterNkunda mobilized his troops, ostensibly toconfront threats posed by the FDLR.22An arrestwarrant for Nkunda, widely accused of humanrights abuses, was issued by the government inSeptember 2005, but he remained at large as ofOctober 2007.

In January 2007 some armed units loyal toNkunda agreed to enter the FARDC following

Rwanda-facilitated talks under an informallyagreed process known as mixage, underwhich Nkunda-affiliated troops combined withgovernment forces into five mixed brigadeswhich remained in North Kivu. In practiceNkunda retained command over the newlyformed FARDC units and his own troops, andcontrolled parts of North Kivu. Troops loyalto Nkunda were deployed to fight against theFDLR and Mai Mai militias,23especially in Masisiand Rutshuru, throughout 2007, contributingto rising insecurity, ethnic tension and human

rights abuses in the province.24

In July 2006Alphonse Batibwira, a non-governmentalorganization (NGO) staff member, was killedwhile trying negotiate the release of childsoldiers. A member of the non-integrated 81stbrigade, loyal to Nkunda, was accused of thekilling. 25Commanders of mixed brigades deniedthe presence of children, obstructed access to


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camps and threatened child-protection workersthroughout 2007.

Some 300 to 500 children, some as youngas 13, were reportedly serving in newly formedmixed brigades in North Kivu in April 2007,and were deployed to fight against Mai-Mai andthe FDLR.26Forcible recruitment was reported inNgungu and Rutshuru (North Kivu) in July, andchildren were being hidden by troops loyal toNkunda in these and other zones in violation ofMilitary HQ Commands orders. Children weretold to lie about their age (to state that theywere adults) and those who managed to escapereturned to their villages, where they remainedat risk of re-recruitment.27MONUC reported inOctober that around 200 children remained in theFARDC units loyal to Nkunda, particularly amongNorth Kivu brigades.28

An upsurge in child recruitment from refugeecamps and communities in Rwanda occurred fromJanuary 2007.29Children said they were offeredmoney and employment if they returned to NorthKivu, but on arrival were recruited into mixedbrigades loyal to Nkunda.30Rwandan authoritiescarried out a joint assessment with officials fromthe UN refugee agency UNHCR in May. Theyvisited refugee camps to establish mechanismsfor improved child protection, including improvedcontrol over the exit of children from thecamps.31The Rwanda government initiated aninvestigation into the alleged removal of eight

children from Kiziba camp in July, for deploymentin South Kivu.32Some Rwandan child soldiersrepatriated to Rwanda were reportedly arrestedand beaten by the authorities.33

Armed groups in IturiNumerous armed groups, often formed alongethnic lines, continued to operate in Ituri, anarea of considerable natural wealth. Tensionsbetween Hema and Lendu (pastoralist andagriculturalist respectively) and associatedcommunities, over land use, arms smuggling and

other resources, persisted throughout 2004. Thegroups carried out killings, rape and abductionsof the civilian population, as well as burningproperty and looting.34All the groups recruitedand used children. Some groups signed an actof engagement with the government in May2004. They committed to joining the transitionalprocess and agreed to take part in a pilot DDRprogram initiated in September.35However,disarmament was repeatedly delayed ascommanders attempted to negotiate amnestiesand to secure senior FARDC posts.

Several leaders of armed groups werearrested in March 2005 after nine UNpeacekeepers from Bangladesh were killed inthe Bunia area. They included Thomas Lubanga,head of the Union of Patriotic Congolese (Uniondes patriotes congolais, UPC/L), and GermainKatanga, head of the Ituri Patriotic Resistance

Front (Front de rsistance patriotique en Ituri,FRPI).36The two were subsequently indicted byand handed over to the International CriminalCourt (ICC). From 2005 the FARDC and MONUCincreased their efforts to compel the groups todisarm and to protect the civilian population. TheCongolese Popular Armed Forces (Forces armespopulaires congolaises, FAPC) was completelydismantled in 2006 and hundreds of children,including numerous girls, joined the DDRprogram. Some children could have remainedwith remnants of the group, which crossed theborder into Uganda.37

While militarily weakened, the FRPI and theNationalist and Integrationist Front (Front desnationalistes et intgrationnistes, FNI) continuedto operate, and in 2005 they attempted toconsolidate their remaining forces under a newalliance, the Congolese Revolutionary Movement(Mouvement rvolutionnaire congolais, MRC).38Children continued to be recruited and re-recruited by the FNI, led by Peter Karim Udagathroughout 2005. In July 2006 Karim agreedto disarm and enter the DDR program, and 87children were demobilized from his forces. By lateAugust the UN reported that the FNI was againrecruiting children, including by force.39Severaldozen children were released from these groupsor escaped during the first months of 2007, butsome FNI commanders actively obstructed therelease of children.40Local sources estimated

that as of April 2007 several hundred childrenremained in these groups.41They includedchildren forced to remain unless amnestyconditions for disarmament were met by theauthorities.42

Forces dmocratiques pour lalibration du Rwanda (FDLR)Rwandan armed groups opposed to the Rwandangovernment had been present in the easternDRC since shortly after the 1994 genocide, andthe Rwandan FDLR had been active in North and

South Kivu from about 2004. While officiallyopposed to the Rwandan government, it primarilyengaged in criminal activities in the Kivus,including extortion and trading in minerals.43Reports persisted of Congolese governmentassistance in the form of weapons and militarysupport to the FDLR, and in early 2007 someFARDC brigades might have been assisted by theFDLR in fighting troops loyal to Laurent Nkunda.Killings, abductions and looting by the FDLR werereported throughout 2006 and 2007.44Numerouscases of rape were reported, including the rape

of a four-year-old girl in South Kivu in 2006. In atleast one case a group of abductees was releasedafter a ransom was paid.45The FDLR recruitedand used a number of children, some of whomwere deployed to fight against Nkunda-affiliatedtroops in 2007, although numbers were difficultto establish.46


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Other armed groupsMai-Mai militias local defence groups wereactive in the eastern provinces of Katanga, theKivus and Maniema during the armed conflict.They received direct military support from thearmed forces, as well as entering opportunisticalliances with adversary groups. Some Mai-Mai

groups entered the transitional process in 2003.Others, particularly in Katanga and North andSouth Kivu, were not eligible for, or remainedhostile to, army unification and the DDRprogram.47Seventy-six children were releasedfrom one group in Katanga in May 2006 whenMai-Mai leader Kyungu Mutanga surrendered,but children probably remained among the 24,000 remaining militia members.48Children weredeployed by Mai-Mai to fight troops affiliatedwith Laurent Nkunda in North Kivu from 2006,and recruitment was ongoing in 2007. Children

were recruited and used by Banyamulenge(Congolese Tutsi) militias in South Kivu.49

Disarmament, demobilizationand reintegration (DDR)Ongoing impunity for human rights violations,including for sexual violence, hindered thesuccessful reintegration of former child soldiers.Efforts by the government, the internationalcommunity, donors and NGOs were hampered by

a context of poverty, weak or non-existent stateinstitutions and an infrastructure devastated bywar.

Funding for adults and childrens DDR wasestablished by the World Bank and the Multi-country Demobilization and ReintegrationProgram in 2002. In the absence of a nationalbody, DDR was initially carried out by UNICEFand NGOs with assistance form MONUC childprotection advisers.50A national body, theCommission Nationale de Dsarmement,Dmobilisation et Rinsertion (CONADER), was

established in December 2003 to oversee a DDRprogram for an estimated 150,000 adult fightersand 30,000 children. An operational frameworkfor childrens DDR was adopted by CONADERin March 2004.51By December 2006 CONADERstated that 30,000 children had been releasedfrom armed forces and groups.52Four thousandchildren were released between October 2006and August 2007, mainly from mixed brigadesand armed groups.53

Implementation of the childrens DDR programwas delayed, owing to continued hostilities, lack

of political and military will, mismanagement offunds and poor co-ordination and timetabling.54Throughout 2005 CONADER, the UN and NGOswere forced to respond on an emergency basis tourgent needs to identify, demobilize, transport,shelter and feed thousands of children. Mostreintegration programs did not start until 2006.55

Reintegration support was consistentlyunderfunded or entirely absent. In December2006 CONADER said that of the 30,000demobilized children some 14,000 had yet toreceive reintegration assistance. By mid-2007CONADER was winding down and internationalfunding had virtually ceased.56CONADERwas slow to approve funding for NGO-basedreintegration projects. Most programs wereestablished in urban centres and inaccessible tothe majority of child soldiers, who were based inrural areas.57

An estimated 11,000 children escapedor left the armed forces and groups withoutbeing officially demobilized.58Children, manyof them used in frontline combat, saw adultsreceive demobilization packages and supportfor a one-year period, while they returnedhome without material support, training orother assistance. Some reportedly resorted toidentifying themselves as adults to enter theadult program.59Others were either forcibly re-recruited or re-enlisted voluntarily in the face ofa dearth of alternatives.

Thousands of girls were recruited and usedby armed forces and groups during and afterthe armed conflict, and girls continued to beassociated with armed forces and groups in theeastern DRC. They performed combat dutiesand portering, provided medical assistanceand carried out domestic labour. Thousands

were raped, resulting in serious and permanentinjuries; many had children as a result of rape.60Girl soldiers were initially largely overlookedby the government and the donor community.Most girls did not enter the official DDR program,fearing stigmatization by their communities ifthey were identified as child soldiers. Othersremained with their military husbands for fearof violence and recrimination if they left.61Only12 per cent of formally demobilized childrenwere girls, despite estimates that girls mighthave comprised up to 40 per cent of the total

number of child soldiers during the armedconflict. CONADER reported in May 2006 thatof the 18,500 demobilized children at that date,only 2,900 (15 per cent) were girls. A World Bankofficial told Amnesty International in March 2006that very little was being done for girl soldiers,adding that we have no good profile of whothese girls are.62

In April 2007 DRC Child Soldiers Coalitionmembers identified 415 girls in the ranks ofarmed forces and groups in South Kivu. All thecommanders denied the presence of girls in their

ranks, alleging that they were dependents orwives. Local sources reported that many girlsremained with the 115th brigade of the FARDC,Mai Mai groups and the FDLR in North Kivu.63Military commanders and fighters frequentlyassumed possession of the girls, claimed themas wives and saw no obligation to identify orrelease them.64


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Community-based initiatives were establishedfrom 2004 to respond to the needs of girls insome regions, but thousands of girls received noreintegration support. Despite well-documentedevidence of widespread sexual violence againstgirls, their complex medical and psychosocialneeds remained largely unmet. Programs toassist girl mothers and their children remainedvirtually non-existent.65Existing provisionwas largely provided by NGOs working atthe community level.66Returning girls wererejected by their communities because of theirinvolvement in sexual activity.67

Other treatment of child soldiersChildren were arrested, detained and tried inmilitary courts for military offences and othercrimes allegedly committed while they were inarmed forces or groups. The trials contravened

Article 114 of the Military Justice Code, whichstipulated that persons below the age of 18 didnot fall under military jurisdiction.68A decree-law passed in 2000 ordered the demobilizationof children illegally recruited or used by armedforces and groups, and the provision wasreinforced in May 2005 by a circular issued by themilitary prosecutor (auditeur gnral) instructingmilitary prosecutors to refer illegally recruitedchildren accused of crimes to a competent civiliancourt or the national body responsible for DDRfor demobilization.69

At least 12 children were known to havebeen sentenced to death since 2003.70The ChildSoldiers Coalition was informed in mid-2007that executions were no longer carried out in theDRC,71but at least five children were believed toremain in detention under sentence of death inJuly 2007 in prisons in the eastern DRC.72

The arrest and detention of child soldiers oncharges of desertion and other military offences(such as abandonment of duty and disobeyingorders) appeared to have decreased overthe previous two years, but cases of children

detained for desertion continued to be identified.Captured child soldiers were also held by theFARDC so that information on the activities ofarmed groups could be extracted from them.73

Developments

ImpunityOn 29 January 2007 the ICC confirmed threecharges against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, headof the UPC, for conscripting and enlisting

children under the age of 15 and for using themto participate actively in hostilities in Ituri fromSeptember 2002 to 13 August 2003.74His trial,the first in the ICCs history, was scheduled tobegin in early 2008. Germain Katanga, of theIturi-based FRPI, was indicted by the ICC in Juneon three counts of crimes against humanity,including murder, inhumane acts and sexual

enslavement, and six counts of war crimes,including child-soldier recruitment and use.Katanga was transferred to The Hague in October2007.

A Mai-Mai militia leader based in Katangaprovince, Kyungu Mutanga, also known asGdon, surrendered to MONUC in 2006and was subsequently held by the FARDCalong with his wife and four child soldierspreviously with his group.75He was chargedwith insurrection, crimes against humanity,war crimes and terrorism, and his trial, whichbegan in August 2007, was ongoing in October.76National authorities prosecuted Jean-PierreBiyoyo, a FARDC member and former leaderof the Mudundu 40 militia. He was tried by amilitary court and sentenced in March 2006 tolife imprisonment for insurrection and to fiveyears imprisonment for the arbitrary arrestand illegal detention of children (de facto childrecruitment) carried out in South Kivu in April2004.77Biyoyo escaped from prison in June 2006and the following February returned to Bukavu aspart of a military delegation to address militaryunits resisting the army unification process inMinembwe (South Kivu).78

Laurent Nkunda remained at large despitebeing widely accused of serious human abuses,including responsibility for a massacre inKisangani in May 2002, summary executions,torture, rape and looting following hostilities in

Bukavu in 2004, as well as forced recruitmentand use of children in hostilities. In September2005 the government issued an internationalarrest warrant for Nkunda on charges ofinsurrection, war crimes and crimes againsthumanity.79

Impunity for rape and other acts of sexualviolence contributed to the widespreadand continued commission of these crimes,with children (girls and boys) comprising ahigh proportion of the victims. A handful ofprosecutions was successfully carried out. In

one important case, in April 2006, seven FARDCmembers were convicted of crimes againsthumanity for mass rapes carried out in Equateurprovince in 2003. The court applied the RomeStatute of the ICC, which qualified rape as a crimeagainst humanity. A further dozen or so FARDCsoldiers were convicted by military courts andsentenced to prison terms of between eight andten years in 2006 and 2007.80

Other developmentsAt a February 2007 ministerial meeting in Paris,

the DRC and 58 other states endorsed the ParisCommitments to protect children from unlawfulrecruitment or use by armed forces or armedgroups and the Paris Principles and guidelines onchildren associated with armed forces or armedgroups. The documents reaffirmed internationalstandards and operational principles for


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protecting and assisting child soldiers andfollowed a wide-ranging global consultationjointly sponsored by the French government andUNICEF.

Mrs Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN SpecialRepresentative of the Secretary-General forchildren and armed conflict, visited the DRC inMarch 2007. She urged the authorities to taketimely and decisive action against the violators ofchildrens rights, including the arrest of LaurentNkunda, and called for measures to demobilizechildren still in the FARDC and armed groups.Mrs Coomaraswamy expressed concern at theextent of sexual violence in the eastern DRCand the prevailing climate of impunity for suchcrimes. She noted that long-term developmentstrategies were required along with adequatedonor support for the work of child-protectionagencies.81

The FARDC and numerous armed groups(including many of those named above) wererepeatedly listed as parties responsible forrecruiting and using children between 2002 and2007 in the annex to the Secretary-Generalsannual reports on children and armed conflict.Most were additionally named as responsible forkillings, abductions and rape.82

1 International Rescue Committee, Mortality in theDRC, an Ongoing Crisis, January 2008, http://theirc.org.

2 Amnesty International Report 2005.3 Global and Inclusive Agreement on Transition in

the DRC, 16 December 2002, www.reliefweb.org.

4 Report of the Secretary-General on the UNMission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,UN Doc. S/2007/671, 14 November 2007.

5 Report of the Secretary-General on the UNMission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,UN Doc.S/2007/156, 20 March 2007.

6 Amnesty International (AI), DRC, Children at War:Creating Hope for their Future, October 2006.

7 Report of the Secretary-General on children andarmed conflict in the Democratic Republic of theCongo, UN Doc. S/2007/391, 28 June 2007.

8 Report of the Secretary-General, above note 4.

9 Amnesty International Report 2005.

10 Ibid.

11 Human Rights WatchWorld Report 2008.

12 DRC, Children at War, above note 6.

13 Report of the Secretary-General on children andarmed conflict in the DRC, UN Doc. S/2006/389,13 June 2006, and Report of the Secretary-General, above note 7.

14 Loi No. 04/023 du 12 novembre 2004 portantorganisation gnrale de la dfence et lesforces armes,Journal officiel de la Rpubliquedmocratique du Congo, 13 November 2004.

15 Circular No. AG/0631/D8a/2005, 19 May 2005,cited in MONUC Child Protection Section,Arrestations et dtentions dans les prisons etcachots de la RDC et la dtention des enfantset la justice pour mineurs, March 2006, www.monuc.org.

16 RDC, Ministre de la Condition Fminine, Projetde Code de Protection de lEnfant, version

definitive traiter au Conseil des Ministres,October 2007.


18 Ibid.

19 Confidential sources, South Kivu, July 2007.



22 Human Rights Watch (HRW), DRC: Arrest LaurentNkunda for war crimes, 1 February 2006; Reportof the Secretary-General on children and armedconflict, UN Doc. A/61/529 S/2006/826, 26

October 2006.23 Mai Mai groups were locally based armed

militias. Mainly active in the eastern provincesof Maniema, Katanga and the Kivus, they werebacked by government forces during the armedconflict but entered opportunistic alliances withopposing forces. Some entered the unificationprocess but others remained outside andengaged in armed activity against FARDC units.

24 HRW, Renewed Crisis in North Kivu, October2007; International Crisis Group (ICG), Congo:Bringing Peace to North Kivu, 31 October 2007.

25 Report of the Secretary-General, above note 7.26 HRW, Army should stop use of child soldiers,

19 April 2007; RDC-Humanitaire, Implicationsof the mixagefor the demobilisation of childrenassociated with armed groups, February 2007,www.rdc-humanitaire.net; Coalition sources,eastern DRC, June 2007.

27 Coalition sources, June 2007

28 MONUC, MONUC denounces the presence ofchildren in FARDCs ranks, press statement, 31October 2007.

29 Coalition sources, eastern DRC, April 2007

30 HRW, above note 26.

31 HRW, above note 24.

32 Report of the Secretary-General on Children andarmed conflict, UN Doc. A/62/609-S.2007/757,21 December 2007.

33 Coalition source, July 2007.

34 MONUC Human Rights Division, The HumanRights Situation in the DRC, 10 May 2006;Seventeenth Report of the Secretary-General onthe UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of theCongo, UN Doc. S/2005/167, 15 March 2005.

35 Third Special Report of the Secretary-General onthe UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of theCongo, UN Doc. S/2004/645, 12 August 2004.

36 Seventeenth Report of the Secretary-General,above note 34.


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37 Report of the Secretary-General on children andarmed conflict, UN Doc. A/61/529-S/2006/826,26 October 2006.

38 Eighteenth Report of the Secretary-General onthe UN Mission in Democratic Republic of theCongo, UN Doc. S/2005/506, 2 August 2005;DRC, Children at War, above note 6.

39 Report of the Secretary-General, above note 37;MONUC Press release, 18 August 2006.


41 Interviews with child protection agencies, Bunia,March 2007; report on the national workshop onDDR, Goma, 1214 April 2007.

42 RDC, Peter Karim, dernier chef milicien dIturi arendu les armes, Agence France-Presse, 7 April2007; interviews with child protection agencies,Bunia, March 2007.

43 ICG, The Congo: Solving the FDLR Problem Onceand for All, May 2005; ICG, Congo: Bringing

peace to North Kivu, October 2007.44 HRW, above note 24.


46 UNICEF, Report of the National Workshop onChildrens DDR, Goma, 1214 April 2007.

47 DRC, Children at War, above note 6; Report of theSecretary-General, above note 13.


49 Coalition information from local sources, easternDRC, June 2007.

50 A separate process was established for thedemobilization and repatriation of all foreigngroups, which was managed by MONUC.



53 Report of the secretary-General, above note 32.


55 Coalition sources, July 2007.

56 Coalition sources, July 2007.

57 Coalition sources, eastern DRC, April 2007.

58 UNICEF, above note 46.

59 Under the adult DDR program fighters receiveda monetary sum on demobilization followed by amonthly allowance for one year.

60 Child Soldiers: Global Report2004; report of theSecretary-General, above note 13.

61 Beth Verhey, Reaching the Girls: Study on GirlsAssociated with Armed Forces and Groups in theDRC, Save the Children and NGO Group: CARE,IFESH, IRC, April, 2005.


63 Coalition sources, DRC, April 2007.


65 Coalition interviews, March, April and July 2007.

66 Save the Children UK, The Forgotten Casualtiesof War, April 2005, www.savethechildren.org.uk;Verhey, above note 61.

67 Verhey, above note 61.

68 Military Justice Code, Law No. 023/2002 of 18November 2002, Article 114.

69 MONUC Child Protection Section, Circular No.

AG/0631/D8a/2005,19 May 2005, cited inArrestations et dtentions,above note 15.

70 MONUC Child Protection Section,Arrestations etdtentions, above note 15.

71 Coalition source, July 2007.

72 Ibid.

73 MONUC Human Rights Section, Monthly reporton human rights, March 2007,16 April 2007.

74 International Criminal Court, Pre-trial ChamberI commits Thomas Lubanga Dyilo for trial, pressrelease, 29 January 2007, http://www.icc-cpi.int.

75 MONUC, The human rights situation in the DRC,July to December 2006, 8 February 2007, www.monuc.org.

76 MONUC, monthly human rights assessment,September 2007.

77 Report of the Secretary-General, above note 13;MONUC, RD Congo: lONU est consterne parlimpunit lest du pays pour les coupablesdu recrutement des enfants, MONUC News, 12March 2007.

78 Le Potentiel, Kinshasa, 1 March 2007; RDC:un Officier condamn au sein dune missionofficielle, lONU proccupe, Agence France-Presse, 1 March 2007.

79 HRW, above note 22; AI, DRC, Civilians Pay thePrice for Political and Military Rivalry, September2005.

80 Reports of the Secretary-General, above notes 7and 13.

81 UN, Report of the Special Representative ofthe Secretary-General for Children and ArmedConflict, UN Doc. A/62/228, 13 August 2007.

82 Reports of the Secretary-General, above notes 32and 37.

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