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Renewed combat in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has caused a drastic deterioration in the humanitarian situation and immense suffering for civilians, the Congo Advocacy Coalition, a group of 83 aid agencies and human rights groups, said today. The coalition called for urgent action to improve protection of civilians and an immediate increase in assistance to vulnerable populations.
Since August 28, 2008, fighting has resumed between the Congolese army and the forces of a renegade general, Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), as well as other armed groups, breaking a fragile ceasefire that had been in place since the Goma peace agreement was signed on January 23. An estimated 100,000 civilians were forced to flee in the most recent violence, including many who had been displaced by earlier waves of fighting. According to witnesses, some civilians were trapped in combat zones and were killed, wounded, raped or illegally detained by soldiers of the Congolese army and combatants of other armed groups.
"The situation for civilians is desperate, and it threatens to deteriorate further if fighting continues," said Rebecca Feeley of the ENOUGH Project. "All the parties who signed the Goma peace agreement should adhere strictly to their obligations, including to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian and human rights law."
The heavy fighting, the worst since the ceasefire was signed, started in Rutshuru territory in North Kivu province before spreading to Masisi territory and then to Kalehe territory in South Kivu. Since January 23, the UN peacekeeping mission, MONUC, has recorded more than 250 ceasefire violations in both North and South Kivu. Each round of fighting resulted in fresh displacement of civilians. The exact numbers are difficult to estimate as those returning home are frequently forced to flee again, but the UN believes that more than 1.2 million people are now displaced in North and South Kivu.
During the recent fighting, many civilians were wounded or killed in the crossfire while there are reports that others, including children, were abducted and forcibly recruited into armed service. In Kirotshe, a female worker at the local health center was shot in the stomach on September 11 while the CNDP and soldiers from the Congolese army fought for control of the town. Another woman who fled from Nyamubingwa village said she left behind three women who had been raped by armed combatants. Much of her village was looted.
"Again and again, we are attacked, we flee, our houses are pillaged, and then we are displaced with nothing," said one man, whose house was looted by two different militia groups after he fled from Nyamubingwa on September 10.
Roadblocks erected by the Congolese army and militia groups prevented many civilians from escaping to safety. In some cases, civilians fleeing combat were only permitted to pass if they paid fines or handed over their electoral cards (which serve as identification in Congo) and other goods which they managed to carry from their homes.
Even outside of combat zones, Congolese army soldiers, sent to the region in increasing numbers, killed or injured civilians, often in the process of pillaging their property. In Minova and neighboring villages of South Kivu, for example, four civilians were killed by indiscriminate fire from soldiers who were looting the area. In some areas, Congolese army soldiers, as well as members of armed groups, are also involved in illicit mining activities in the rich gold and tin mines across the Kivu provinces, systematically extorting from civilians, in particular through the imposition of illegal "taxes."
"Congolese army officers and leaders of armed groups must take urgent steps to control and discipline their troops," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. "They are responsible for keeping their soldiers and combatants from killing, harassing and abusing the population."
Aid workers have suffered attacks that have forced them to suspend activities in North Kivu and parts of South Kivu, leaving many displaced persons without assistance. Soldiers and combatants from armed groups have looted health centers and hijacked trucks delivering humanitarian assistance, diverting them for military purposes. Crowds have stoned aid workers and refused to allow them to pass roadblocks, confusing their role with that of the UN peacekeeping force, MONUC. The crowds said they were angry about what they saw as MONUC's failure to end the conflict and protect the population.
"The signatories to the Goma peace agreement agreed to protect civilians, remove roadblocks and allow humanitarian access to populations in need, yet communities have witnessed them doing precisely the opposite," said Juliette Prodhan, country director for Oxfam GB in DRC. "All parties must live up to their commitments and cease such attacks immediately."
Ten years ago this month, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement were first presented to the Human Rights Commission, officially recognizing the basic rights of all internally displaced persons, including protection against arbitrary displacement, the right to protection and assistance while displaced, and guarantees for safe return.
"In eastern Congo many of the basic rights of displaced people have been flagrantly violated," said Ulrika Blom Mondlane from the Norwegian Refugee Council. "The UN's Guiding Principles should be more than just lofty aspirations. The people of eastern Congo desperately need the protection and basic standards of assistance detailed in this groundbreaking document to become a reality."
The Congo Advocacy Coalition calls on the parties to the Goma peace agreement, international donors, and international facilitators to the peace process (United States, European Union, African Union, and the UN) to redouble efforts to implement the Goma peace agreement and to ensure that the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement are respected in one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies.
Specifically, the coalition calls on these actors to:
* Uphold the commitments to civilian protection and respect for human rights set out in the Goma peace agreement and the Nairobi communique. Appoint a special adviser on human rights for eastern Congo to help ensure that human rights concerns are central to peace discussions.
* Significantly and urgently increase and improve assistance for those displaced from their homes and for the families and communities who host them.
* Sanction those who incite violence against humanitarian and UN workers. Inform the population about the different roles and mandates of MONUC and humanitarian agencies.
* Ensure that MONUC's protection mandate is given priority in the resourcing and management of operations.
* Ensure that the illegal exploitation of natural resources and the economic interests of the parties to the conflict are addressed explicitly in bilateral and international dialogues.
Background
On January 23, the Congolese government and 22 armed groups signed the Goma peace agreement, committing to an immediate ceasefire and observance of international human rights law. The Goma Agreement followed the November 2007 agreement between the governments of Congo and Rwanda, known as the Nairobi Communique, which sought to address the presence of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan armed group, in eastern Congo. In April 2008, the Congolese government set up the Amani Program to coordinate peace efforts in eastern Congo.
The UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement set out the basic rights of all displaced people, though their implementation has been weak in eastern Congo. A majority of displaced people in North and South Kivu do not have access to adequate health services, food, or education. In some areas, malnutrition rates have reached alarming levels and several diseases are endemic. A worrying increase in cholera cases, for example, has been registered in six health zones in North Kivu since the beginning of September.
Local food prices have increased dramatically, exacerbating poverty and malnutrition, but the World Food Programme has been obliged to reduce rations in eastern Congo because of food shortages. Displaced people and other vulnerable groups have resorted to high-risk strategies to feed their families. Despite the risk of abuses by army soldiers or combatants of armed groups, some have no alternative but to return home to cultivate their fields. Women and girls are the most affected: many have been raped while attempting to return home or to seek firewood or water. Others have been arbitrarily arrested or forced to pay illegal taxes. Those who do manage to reach home often find their houses looted or occupied by armed groups or bandits.
Children of displaced families have little or no access to education, either because the family has no money to pay school fees or because there are no schools operating in or near displacement camps. In the struggle to stay alive, children are forced to work. As one young boy said to a humanitarian worker, "if you don't work, you don't eat". Like women, children are vulnerable and easy prey to attacks by combatants. In areas around Masisi, for example, children go out to collect firewood at 3 a.m. to avoid abuse by militias, being captured for recruitment, or rape.
The vast majority of those forced to flee their homes live with host families, many of whom are as poor as those they support. To date, these host families, many of whom have sheltered large numbers of displaced persons for months or years, have received little attention and assistance. With village populations sometimes doubling in size, scarce local resources are so strained that displaced people are often forced to move again to other locations.
The Congo Advocacy Coalition, made up of local and international nongovernmental organizations, was established in July 2008 to focus attention on the protection of civilians and respect for human rights in eastern Congo's peace process. The coalition advocates that the parties to the Goma Agreement, the Nairobi Communique and the Congolese government's national Amani Program live up to their commitments to respect international human rights law and ensure protection of civilians. The following organizations are members of the coalition's steering committee: ActionAid, ENOUGH Project, Human Rights Watch, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Oxfam, Conseil Regional des Organisations Non Gouvernementales de Developpement (CRONGD) - North Kivu, Promotion et Appui aux Initiatives Feminines (PAIF) - North Kivu, Initiative Congolaise pour la Justice et la Paix (ICJP) - South Kivu, and Association des Femmes Juristes du Congo (AFEJUCO) - South Kivu.
Other signatories:
International NGOs: Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED),
Beati i Costruttori di Pace (Blessed are the Peacemakers), CAFOD, CARE International, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Global Witness, International Alert, La Benovolencija, Merlin, Refugees International, Save the Children UK, Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), War Child Holland, Women for Women International, World Vision.
Congolese NGOs: ACP/Sud-Kivu, Action de Promotion et d'Assistance pour l'Amelioration du Niveau des Vies des Populations (APANIVIP), Action Paysanne pour la Reconstruction et le Developpement Communautaire (APREDECI), Action pour la Promotion de la Participation Citoyenne (APPC), Action pour la promotion et la defense des droits des personnes defavorisees (APRODEPED), Action Sociale pour la Paix et le Developpement (ASPD), ADEF, Aide et Action pour la Paix (AAP), Association Africaine de Defense des Droits de l'Homme (ASADHO)/Sud-Kivu, Association des jeunes pour la defense des droits de l'enfant et la lutte contre la racisme et la haine (AJERH), Association des Voluntaires du Congo (ASVOCO), BEDEWA, Blessed Aid, Caritas Goma, Centre de Recherche sur l'Environnement, la Democratie et les Droits de l'Homme (CREDDH0), Centre pour la Paix et les Droits de l'Homme - Peace and Human Rights Center (CPDH-PHRC), CEPROSSAN (Le Centre de promotion socio-sanitaire), CEREBA, Change Agents Peace Program (CAPP), Children's Voice, Coalition pour mettre fin a l'utilisation d'enfants soldats en RDC, Collectif des Associations des Femmes Pour le Developpement (CAFED), Collectif des ONGs de Droits de l'Homme (CODHO),Collectif des Organisations des Jeunes Solidaires du Congo, (COJESKI) /Nord et Sud Kivu. Construisons la Paix et le Developpement (COPADI), CPP (Campagne Pour la Paix), Dynamique des femmes juristes (DFJ), Federation des Organisations des Producteurs Agricoles du Congo (FOPAC), Femmes Plus/ Sud Kivu, GAM, Goma Pax Christi, Groupe de Voix de Sans Voix (GVSV), Heritiers de la Justice, Human Dignity in the World (HDW), IGEE, La Ligue Adili, LDGL, LUNACOP, Ministere de l'Eglise du Christ au Congo pour les Refugies et les Urgences (ECC MERU)/ Sud Kivu, Mouvement International des Droits de l'Enfant, de la femme, de l'homme veuf et de leur promotion sociale (MIDEFEHOPS), PAMI, PFPA, PRODES, Promotion de la Democratie et Protection des Droits Humains (PDH), PROPREAD, Reseau d'initiative Local pour le developpement durable (REID), Reseau Femme et Developpement (REFED)/Nord-Kivu, Reseau Provincial des ONGs de Droits de l'Homme (REPRODHOC)/Nord-Kivu, Solidarite Feminine pour la Paix et le Developpement Integral (SOFEPADI)/ Nord-Kivu, Solidarite pour la Promotion sociale et la Paix (SOPROP), SOS/Grands-Lacs, Syndicat des Associations Feminines pour un Developpement Integral (SAFEDI), Synergie des femmes pour les victimes des violences sexuelles (SFVS), Uwaki, VAS, Villages Cobaye (VICO), VOVOLIB.
For more information, please contact:
In Washington, DC, for the Enough Project, Colin Thomas-Jensen (English): +1-202-682-6136
In London, for Human Rights Watch, Anneke Van Woudenberg (English, French): +44-77-1166-4960 (mobile)
In Goma, for Norwegian Refugee Council, Ulrika Blom Mondlane (English): + 243-81-086-9030
In Kinshasa, for Oxfam, Juliette Prodhan (English): +243-81-348-9309
In Goma, for CRONGD, Kubuya Muhangi (French, Swahili): +243-99-861-0651
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
"Because we believe that housing is a human right, like food or healthcare, we believe that more Americans deserve the option of social housing."
"It's becoming nearly impossible for working-class people to buy and keep a roof over their heads. Congress must respond with a plan that matches the scale of this crisis."
That's according to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), who on Wednesday introduced the Homes Act in a New York Timesopinion piece and an event with supporters of the proposal on Capitol Hill.
"Because we believe that housing is a human right, like food or healthcare, we believe that more Americans deserve the option of social housing," the pair wrote in the Times. "That's why we're introducing the Homes Act, a plan to establish a new, federally backed development authority to finance and build homes in big cities and small towns across America. These homes would be built to last by union workers and then turned over to entities that agree to manage them for permanent affordability: public and tribal housing authorities, cooperatives, tenant unions, community land trusts, nonprofits, and local governments."
"Our housing development authority wouldn't be focused on maximizing profit or returns to shareholders," the congresswomen continued. "Rent would be capped at 25% of a household's adjusted annual gross income. Homes would be set aside for lower-income families in mixed-income buildings and communities. And every home would be built to modern, efficient standards, which would cut residents' utility costs. Renters wouldn't have to worry about the prospect of a big corporation buying up the building and evicting everyone. Some could even come together to purchase their buildings outright."
In addition to establishing the new authority under the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the bill would repeal the Faircloth Amendment, which prevents the use of federal money for building new public homes. Under the new plan, construction would be funded by congressional spending and Treasury-backed loans.
"In New York, the average worker would need to clock in 104 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom apartment," Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. "This country is staring down a full-blown housing crisis. A crisis where affordable housing is slipping out of reach."
"This bill would create more than 500,000 jobs and create 1.25 million affordable housing units," she noted, declaring that "everyone deserves a place to call home."
It's not just New York City where lower-wage people are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Smith pointed out that "more than 90% of workers cannot afford a modest one-bedroom apartment. Americans across the country are bidding for homes against the wealthiest financial firms and they're losing."
"We have a severe housing crisis," she stressed. "The private market cannot meet this moment on its own. The Homes Act meets peoples' needs through social housing."
As Jacobin's Samuel Stein wrote Wednesday:
The housing system sketched out in the Homes Act looks nothing like what we are used to in the United States. Though we have an important social housing legacy, we have never normalized decommodification as the cornerstone of our housing system.
Introducing legislation like the Homes Act does not accomplish that goal in and of itself, but it offers us a concrete depiction of what that transition could look like. It also highlights the severe disjuncture between what our housing and urban planning system does right now—promote private profits in real estate while minimizing the public provision of housing—and what we need it to do.
The goal of legislation like this is not to pass it immediately, since no sober person would expect the current U.S. Congress to line up in support. Nor is the goal to supplant the messy work of organizing with the schematic and technical language of legislation. Instead, the point is to inspire organizing: to show that the status quo is not the only way our housing could operate, to give tenant organizations a concrete and affirmative vision to build toward, and to offer socialist candidates for office a platform to run on.
The bill to create a social housing authority—introduced less than two months out from the U.S. general election—is backed by the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) and its affiliates from across the country.
"Working families are being forced to make sacrifices in order to pay the skyrocketing cost of keeping a roof over their heads, while corporate landlords and Wall Street executives are getting even richer," said CPD co-executive directors Analilia Mejia and DaMareo Cooper. "This legislation provides a clear alternative to for-profit housing. It creates a framework to make community-owned, permanently affordable green social housing a reality."
Advocates from both sponsors' states also spoke out in favor of the bill.
"In Greater Minnesota, counties and towns don't have staff to build affordable housing projects, financing is another huge issue. We don’t have as many philanthropic organizations or financial institutions as urban areas," explained Noah Hobbs, policy director at One Roof Community Housing in Duluth. "This bill is the first real investment we've had in years. We're incredibly proud to endorse this legislation."
Aisha Hernandez, secretary of the Coalition to Save Affordable Housing at Co-op City in the Bronx, said that "cooperative housing gave me the ability to co-own my home. A few years ago, my neighbors and I came together to ensure our housing stays affordable, that our management is working in the interest of homeowners and prevent any corporate takeover of Co-op City."
"We are co-owners, not at the whims of corporate landlords," Hernandez added. "I want my fellow Americans to have the same access to housing that co-op has afforded me. This bill has the ability to do that. So let's get it done."
"This research provides a view into just how embedded the corporate, profit-fueled war machine is in our higher education and cultural institutions," said one campaigner.
A trio of human rights groups on Wednesday announced a new interactive initiative exposing what the coalition is calling a "Genocide Gentry" of weapons company executives and board members and "54 museums, cultural organizations, universities, and colleges that currently host these individuals on their boards or in other prominent roles."
The coalition—which consists of the Adalah Justice Project, LittleSis, and Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE)—published a map and database detailing the "educational and cultural ties to board members of six defense corporations" amid Israel's ongoing annihilation of Gaza, for which the U.S.-backed country is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
" Israel has destroyed every university in Gaza and nearly 200 cultural heritage sites since October 2023, using bombs and weapons manufactured by the companies included in the Genocide Gentry research," the coalition said. "As of April, these attacks have killed more than 5,479 students and 261 teachers and destroyed or critically damaged nearly 90% of all school buildings in Gaza."
"Universities across the country including the likes of Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Southern California, and New York University have remained largely silent on Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza," the groups added. "Behind closed doors, these same universities are hosting executives and board members of the companies manufacturing the weapons used in these attacks as board members, trustees, and fellows."
Members of the Genocide Gentry include:
"Students on university campuses across the country have not only been demanding divestment, but transparency," said Sandra Tamari, executive director of the Adalah Justice Project. "Transparency about their institutions' investments, partnerships, donors, and decision-makers, and their connections to individuals and companies directly enabling and profiting off war and genocide."
"This research helps provide some of this transparency by illuminating just how embedded the interests of the weapons industry are within our institutions, so we can begin chipping away at the power and influence that they wield," she added.
ACRE campaign director Ramah Kudaimi noted that "as part of its genocide since October 2023, Israel has targeted universities and cultural centers across Gaza, destroying campuses, museums, libraries, and more."
"That this is all backed by the United States means U.S. educational and cultural institutions have a responsibility to consider what their role is in helping end these war crimes, and that starts with reconsidering their connections with the weapons companies profiting from the destruction," Kudaimi said.
Munira Lokhandwala, director of the Tech and Training program at LittleSis, said: "This research provides a view into just how embedded the corporate, profit-fueled war machine is in our higher education and cultural institutions. Through this research, we show how the defense industry shapes and influences our civic and cultural institutions, and as a result, their silence around war and genocide."
"We must ask our institutions: What role are you playing in whitewashing war and destruction by inviting those who profit from manufacturing weapons onto your boards and into your galas?" she added.
"The Fed must continue to cut rates aggressively in the coming months to prevent a slowing labor market and provide much-needed relief to people who are bearing the brunt of high interest rates," said one economist.
Economists and working-class people across the United States on Wednesday welcomed the Federal Reserve's decision to cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point as an incredibly overdue and necessary move.
In line with signals from Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech last month, the Federal Open Market Committee lowered the federal funds rate by half a percentage point to 4.74-5%, the first cut "since March 2020 when Covid-19 was hammering the economy," as The Associated Pressnoted. Additional cuts are expected over the next two years.
"Finally," wrote Kenny Stancil, a senior researcher at the Revolving Door Project and former Common Dreams staff writer, in a blog post. "The Fed should have provided interest rate relief months ago. While this overdue move is welcome, we must reiterate that Powell's deferral of interest rate cuts has hurt the clean energy transition and inflicted other economic harms."
Lawmakers and experts, including Groundwork Collaborative chief economist Rakeen Mabud, have long called for rate cuts and highlighted the harms of refusing to pursue them.
"Today's rate cut is a step in the right direction, but only a first step," said Mabud in a statement Wednesday. "The Fed must continue to cut rates aggressively in the coming months to prevent a slowing labor market and provide much-needed relief to people who are bearing the brunt of high interest rates."
Center for Economic and Policy Research senior economist Dean Baker also welcomed that the Fed is changing course, saying: "This is a belated recognition that the battle against inflation has been won. Contrary to the predictions of almost all economists, including those at the Fed, this victory was won without a major uptick in unemployment."
"Unfortunately, the Fed waited too long to make this turn," Baker continued. "As a result, the unemployment rate has drifted higher. While there is little basis for concerns about a recession, if the unemployment rate is 0.5 percentage points higher than it needs to be, that translates into 800,000 people out of work who want jobs."
"It is good that the Fed has now recognized the weakening of the labor market and responded with an aggressive cut," he added. "Given there is almost no risk of rekindling inflation, the greater boost to the labor market is largely costless. Also, it will help to spur the housing market where millions of people have put off selling homes because of high mortgage rates."
Liz Zelnick of Accountable.US similarly stressed the benefits, saying that "while it should have come sooner, the Fed's interest rate cut will ease some burden for many Americans that found it simply too expensive to buy new homes or cars."
"Fortunately, the Fed's aggressive interest rate strategy defied odds and did not spur a recession as the economy continues to grow hundreds of thousands of jobs every month while wages are rising," she said. "Persistently high interest rates were never going to get at the root of the corporate price gouging epidemic that has needlessly kept prices high on many necessities—a problem that is on Congress to fix."
Some members of Congress who have been pushing for rate cuts also applauded the belated action—including Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), chair of the Joint Economic Committee.
"Let's be clear: Today's decision is a big win for families across the country," he declared. "Lower rates mean that more families will be able to buy a home or a car without high interest payments looming over them, and their credit card bills will go down."
"But there is still work to be done," he said. "I will continue to work with my colleagues to fight for policies that raise wages, strengthen our economy, create new jobs, and lower prices for families in New Mexico and across the country."
Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, has also criticized the central bank's refusal to cut rates and praised the Wednesday reversal.
"We've made significant progress on inflation, but House Democrats know there is more to be done to bring down the cost of everyday goods and take on corporate price gouging," Boyle said, nodding to the November election in which former Republican President Donald Trump is facing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
"While House Republicans continue trying to inflict higher costs and higher taxes on the middle class with Trump's Project 2025 agenda," he added, "House Democrats will never stop fighting to deliver an economy that works for working families."
Harris similarly applauded the "welcome news for Americans who have borne the brunt of high prices" while acknowledging that more must be done and vowing that "my focus is on the work ahead to keep bringing prices down."
"I know prices are still too high for many middle-class and working families, and my top priority as president will be to lower the costs of everyday needs like healthcare, housing, and groceries. That is why I am proposing plans to cut taxes for more than 100 million working and middle-class Americans, pass the first-ever federal ban on corporate price gouging on food and groceries, and make housing more affordable by building 3 million new homes and giving more Americans down payment assistance," she said.
The Democrat also took aim at Trump's intentions, warning that "while proposing more tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, his plan would increase costs on families by nearly $4,000 a year by slapping a Trump Tax on goods families rely on, like gas, food, and clothing. He wants to repeal the law I cast the tie-breaking vote to pass that caps the costs of prescription drugs for seniors, including insulin at $35. He would end the Affordable Care Act and erase the progress we have made to lower premiums for millions of Americans by hundreds of dollars a year."
"Sixteen Nobel Prize-winning economists say his plan would increase inflation, and a Moody's report found it would cause a recession by the middle of next year," she noted. "This election is about whether we are going to finally build an opportunity economy that gives every American a shot not just to get by, but to get ahead. As president, that will be my priority every day."