Overview

Armed groups, some of which were backed by government forces, increasingly committed serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, which may have amounted to war crimes. The March 23 Movement (M23) summarily killed civilians, and subjected detainees to torture and other ill-treatment and inhumane conditions. Its fighters attacked hospitals in Goma and abducted patients, caregivers and, in some cases, Congolese soldiers hiding in the hospitals. Incidents of conflict-related sexual violence continued at an alarming rate. Fighters of the M23 and Wazalendo armed groups gang-raped women in North-Kivu and South-Kivu provinces. Armed groups and authorities restricted civic space. M23 fighters detained, tortured and threatened journalists, human rights defenders and civil society members because of their work. Hundreds of people perceived to be opponents of M23 were forcibly disappeared. Tens of thousands of internally displaced people were forced from camps near Goma. A regional commission ordered the government to prosecute members of government forces for acts of sexual violence against women in South-Kivu during 2011.