FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR When I was joining IRRI in the first quarter of 2019, I could not have imagined the dynamism and shifts we would experience by the end of 2019. We changed. Simply put. At the milestone of 15 years, we determined that we needed to re- strategise and rethink IRRI, and what…
Re: Creating a dedicated country-wide human rights monitoring and reporting mechanism on the Democratic Republic of Congo at the UN Human Rights Council Geneva, 5 September 2018 Your excellency, We, the undersigned Congolese, regional, and international organizations, write to urge your delegation to support the creation of a country-wide human rights monitoring and reporting…
For many years, Rwandan refugees in Uganda have faced abuses, including arbitrary detention, forced return to Rwanda and attacks on their physical security, without any form of accountability. However, last Friday, 24 August, former Inspector-General of the Ugandan police, General Kale Kayihura, has been charged with aiding and abetting the kidnapping and repatriation of…
On 7 August, South Sudan’s president and main opposition leaders signed a new deal, which allows for the inclusion of the latter in the country’s government and is supposed to end the conflict that has ravaged the country since it started in late 2013. Despite hopeful statements by the signatories and its guarantors, this…
Les dirigeants africains devraient déterminer comment relancer le dialogue sur le Burundi, a déclaré IRRI aujourd’hui, à l’occasion de la sortie de son dernier rapport sur le dialogue et les accords de paix dans le pays. Les conclusions du rapport montrent que malgré leur point de vue critique, de nombreux Burundais appuient la poursuite des…
African leaders should decide how to revive the dialogue on Burundi, IRRI said today, as it launches a new report on dialogue and peace agreements in Burundi. The report’s findings show that despite considerable skepticism, many Burundian citizens support a continuation of talks and strongly value previous peace agreements. “While criticising the parties and the…
“They killed my brothers of 16 and 18 years old. They killed them in my presence, I saw it happening,” Sylvia,* a young Congolese mother, told IRRI in Angola. “Even when the military killed my brothers, I wasn’t allowed to cry. They burned the corpses.” A team of experts, mandated by the UN Human Rights…
The Anglophone crisis has plagued the north western and south western regions of Cameroon for more than a year and seems no closer to resolution. It has reportedly caused the deaths of at least 120 civilians and 43 members of the security forces. Since the end of 2016, and exacerbated since October 2017, the…
IRRI’s 2017 Annual Report highlights our work in a year of significant achievement for us, as we continued to work on our three main programmatic areas of: -identifying the violations that cause displacement and exile; -protecting the rights of those who are displaced, and -ensuring resolutions to their displacement are durable, rights respecting, safe and timely. The…
To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva 23 February 2018 RE: Renewing and strengthening the mandate of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan to ensure accountability for gross violations of human rights and related crimes in South Sudan Excellencies, We, the undersigned national, regional and…
International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) a publié un nouveau rapport sur les violences et les déplacements dans la région du Kasaï en république démocratique du Congo (RDC). Il montre que suite à des attaques commises par une milice, ont eu lieu des opérations militaires abusives et des massacres par une milice progouvernement, causant la mort…
International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) published a new report about violence and displacement in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It describes how attacks by a militia were followed by abusive military operations and mass killings by a pro-government militia, causing the death and displacement of hundreds of thousands. IRRI spoke…
Thousands of victims across the world continue to see the ICC as a beacon of hope and an avenue to obtain justice for egregious crimes perpetrated against them. Up to September 2017, over 12, 985 victims were participating in proceedings before the Court. Between August 2016 and August 2017 alone, the Court received over 4,725…
“I don’t want to go back [to Burundi],” Marie[i], a 29 year old widow, told International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) in June, when we interviewed her in a refugee settlement in Uganda. “There are too many criminals in Burundi and I know they can’t put them all in prison.” Her husband, an opposition member, had…
Burundian asylum seekers and refugees, International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) said today. According to MONUSCO, on 15 September, Congolese government security forces killed at least 36 and injured over 100 Burundians in Kamanyola (South Kivu province), during demonstrations by Burundians against threatened expulsions. “The Congolese authorities must ensure that their investigation, into what appears to…
On 26 January 2017, Gambia’s former Interior Minister, Ousmane Sonko, was arrested near Berne in Switzerland and charged with crimes against humanity. Two alleged victims, supported by the Swiss NGO TRIAL International, recently filed criminal charges against Sonko, claiming that “they were tortured by the Gambian authorities while Sonko was in charge of security services,…
(23 February 2017) We, the undersigned South Sudanese, regional and international non-governmental organisations, write to urge your delegation to renew and strengthen the mandate and capacity of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (the Commission) to address the continued lack of accountability for severe, widespread and on-going crimes under international law and…
We, the undersigned South Sudanese, regional and international non-governmental organisations, write to urge your delegation to renew and strengthen the mandate and capacity of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (the Commission) to address the continued lack of accountability for severe, widespread and on-going crimes under international law and human rights violations…
We, the undersigned organizations from the continent in solidarity with the people of South Sudan, urge you to seize a potentially powerful opportunity for a sustained peace in South Sudan by committing your leadership to the development of an open and inclusive national dialogue for our continent’s newest nation at the 28th Ordinary Session…
(20 December 2016) A prominent Sudanese human rights defender (HRD), Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, is currently detained incommunicado by the country’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). Dr. Mudawi was arrested at the University of Khartoum, where he is a professor, on 7 December 2016 alongside his longtime driver, Adam El Sheikh Mukhtar. Both men…