United Nations Radio

The Human rights Council has been holding a special session in Geneva to discuss the deteriorating human rights situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Addressing the session, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said a wide range of human rights abuses including summary executions, kidnappings and sexual violence against women were being committed by rebel and Government forces on a daily basis.

"A failure to adequately address the root causes of the conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo would risk leading to further outbreaks of large-scale violence in the DRC and in the Great Lakes region of Africa. The periodic cycles of bloodshed and destruction that have for so long affected the DRC will keep recurring unless the perpetrators of human rights violations are brought to justice and unless the illegal exploitation of natural resources is adequately and comprehensively addressed."

The special session was called by France on behalf of the European Union. A wave of fresh fighting, which broke out in August this year, has displaced over 250,000 people in eastern DRC.

Patrick Maigua, UN Radio Geneva

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