APPG Great Lakes Member leads parliamentary debate on conflict in eastern DRC
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- Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Pauline Latham MP tabled a Westminster Hall debate on the situation in the DRC on 23 October. The APPG Member insisted on the extent of the humanitarian disaster and the dire living conditions faced by displaced persons and populations from conflict-affected areas. Ms Latham put a particular emphasis on the numerous reports of human rights violations, including use of child soldiers and widespread sexual and gender-based violence, perpetrated by the M23 and other armed groups, the Congolese army and foreign military officials involved in the conflict.
But the Member for Mid Derbyshire also stressed that the DRC government had not sufficiently engaged in reforms necessary to restore state authority and good governance, such as security sector reform, and that the UK, as a major donor to the DRC, had considerable aid leverage to push for such reforms, without which all stabilisation efforts will remain fruitless.
The transcript of the debate can be read here.
APPG hosts roundtable meeting on Security Sector Reform in the DR Congo
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- Wednesday, 23 May 2012
On 22nd May 2012, the APPG hosted a roundtable meeting on Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the DRC with Thierry Vircoulon, International Crisis Group’s Project Director for Central Africa and a member of the OECD Group of Experts on Statebuilding and Peacebuilding, Ben Shepherd, Chatham House Fellow and co-writer of the Taking a Stand on Security Sector Reform report and Melanie Teff, Senior Advocate and European Representative at Refugees International.
APPG Great Lakes Members challenge UK government over alleged Rwandan support to eastern Congo mutiny
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- Monday, 30 July 2012
APPG members tabled and contributed to a parliamentary debate on the security situation in the DRC on 19 July and raised the issue of Rwanda’s involvement in the M23 mutiny.
APPG hosts briefing by Refugees International on Displaced Persons in DRC
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- Friday, 23 March 2012
On 21st March 2012, the APPG organised a roundtable meeting on the situation of Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC’s security situation, extremely volatile in several provinces and in particular in the Kivus, has led the level of IDPs to reach the 2 million-threshold for the first time in three years.
APPG co-hosts UK Premiere screening of award-winning film on murder of prominent human rights defender
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- Thursday, 28 June 2012
On 27 June 2012, and in cooperation with Amnesty International, the APPG hosted the screening of the award-winning film “The Chebeya Affair: A State Crime?”. This film, written, directed and filmed by Thierry Michel, is the chronicle of an exceptional trial, that of the alleged killers of Floribert Chebeya, executive director of Congolese human rights organisation the “Voix des Sans Voix” (Voice of the Voiceless) and one of the DRC’s most prominent human rights activists.
The APPG receives the President of the Republic of Burundi
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- Friday, 24 February 2012
On 22 February 2012, the APPG Great Lakes hosted a meeting with the President of Burundi, H.E. Pierre Nkurunziza, in order to discuss recent developments relating to the country as well as to the Great Lakes region. Burundi, a country still fragile after decades of ethnic and political conflict, has been suffering from recurring attacks by armed groups ever since its 2010 general elections, with new rebel groups regularly emerging.
