African Democracy Forum Calls on UN Human Rights Council for Special Session on DRC

I received this alert via the WMD's DemocracyNews newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org. Nearly 30 democracy and human rights organizations around the World, including the World Movement's  African Democracy Forum (ADF) issued a letter today to the UN Human Rights Council calling for a special session regarding the worsening human rights situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  In the letter, the organizations assert that there are more than 250,000 new internally displaced persons (IDPs) since heavy fighting resumed in late August, making the total number of IDPs in North Kivu now over one million.  The organizations express serious concern about the escalation of killings, sexual violence, looting, as well as about the continued lack of civilian access to food, shelter, and medication.

The organizations urge the UN Human Rights Council to immediately convene a Special Session on the human rights situation in the DRC.  They also call on the UN to take direct steps to respond to this crisis, and ask that the Human Rights Council use the Special Session to foster concrete measures to prevent further violations of human rights and protect those already suffering from violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Go to: www.wmd.org/documents/17nov2008.pdf