The Special Rapporteur of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) on Human Rights Defenders in Africa, Me Reine Alapini-Gansou, expresses her profound regrets after the assassination of Floribert Bwana Chuy Bin Kositi, a human rights defender, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
It is alleged that Floribert Bwana Chuy Bin Kositi,Provincial Secretary of the Congolese Union fore Democracy (RCD-Goma), was found dead on 9 July 2007 in Goma, administrative center of the province of North Kivu, in Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC).
The Special Rapporteur expresses profound concern especially for the security of human rights defenders in the DRC, particularly, in the province of Kivu. This assassination comes a month after the assassination of human rights defender, Serge Maheshe, Secretary of Radio Okapi, on June 13 2007, in Bakavu, South Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is concerned of the fact that, in recent months, there is a new and serious wave of these forms of grave violations of the rights of human rights defenders in RDC, and she questions the causes of these acts.
The Special Rapporteur urges the authorities of the DRC to take all necessary measures to guarantee the freedom of human rights defenders in the DRC to carry out their work as human rights defenders and to ensure the physical and psychological integrity of all human rights defenders.
The Special Rapporteur wishes to remind the Government of the DRC of its obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights , with particular reference to Articles 1, 4 and 9 ; its responsibility under the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, with particular reference to Articles 1 and 12.2. The government is also respectfully reminded of its obligations under the Grand Bay and Kigali Declarations and other international human rights instruments ratified by the DRC.
