Letter of concerns to UNHCR Country Representative to DRCongo: Why refugees are not your priority

Madam Angèle Dikongue Atangana

Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UHCR), in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Here is the original French version of the letter ” LETTRE 21 JUILLET 2024 UNHCR KINSHASA DRC

Here is the article about the meeting ” https://laprosperiteonline.net/an-vital-kamerhe-annonce-une-loi-portant-sur-les-refugies-et-personnes-deplacees-internes-en-rdc/#google_vignette

CC :

Honorable Vital Kamerhe,

President of Parliament, Kinshasa DRC,

  Professor Ntuba Lwaba,

Coordinator of the National Monitoring Mechanism,

Kinshasa, DRC,

Subject: Letter of indignation following UNHCR’s efforts to perpetuate the problem of forced migrants instead of helping the DRC resolve this challenge.

Madam UNHCR Representative,

We learned with dismay of your and meeting with the Honorable Vital Kamerhe the President of Parliament on July 19, 2024 to request the involvement of the Speaker on the laws relating to the status of stateless persons as well as the law on Internally Displaced Persons in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Recognizing that the DRC does not have a clear law on the protection of internally displaced persons and it is necessary to have one but this would not be urgent. We would not be proud as a people and as a nation to keep Congolese in Internally Displaced Persons Camps while this country has several opportunities to properly manage the displacement of people internally, an almost empty country should not be encouraged to keep Congolese men and women in camps. Your activism comes at a time when thousands of Congolese are in camps in North Kivu, a decision in which you participated as UNHCR and you are the first beneficiary in the name of humanitarian interventions. To properly defend your interests, UNHCR in the Democratic Republic of Congo has completely forgotten the situation of refugees to focus on Internally Displaced People.

We oppose this legislative initiative which will dehumanize internally displaced people beyond being victims of your decisions; on the contrary, your efforts should support this country in implementing a prevention policy. We are not proud to see the Congolese in camps living on the aid of UNHCR while these Congolese can produce and live with the dignity of their efforts. The law would lead us to believe that it would be acceptable for some Congolese to live in camps for a long time. By proposing this law, what would be the interest of these Congolese that you defend? We remind you that these Congolese men and women in Camps that UNHCR influenced the authorities to place them in these human conditions, these Congolese have National Deputies, Provincial Deputies, they are part of Civil Society, they have religious leaders, they have traditional leaders and associations to represent them, and if necessary UNHCR should only channel their aspirations.

We are also concerned by UNHCR’s lobbying near the authorities and institutions of the Democratic Republic of Congo regarding stateless people, this approach would aim to create unnecessary tension and community conflicts from which UNHCR would benefit from these humanitarian activities. These people that you present to us as stateless people were who originally, what countries did they come from and what legal status do they have in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We also reject this law and we ask you to first engage the Congolese population on these issues instead of using a simplistic strategy to influence the authorities.

We are particularly concerned about the behavior of UNHCR in the DRC, which is part of the problem instead of being a solution in the management of refugees. While for a long time the Congolese Government has ceded the management of refugees to UNHCR, instead of helping this country to do better UNHCR has abused this trust until now. Can you remind Madam that even UNHCR will not be able to tell us clearly where the Rwandan refugees who came in 1959 would be and what status they would currently have in the DRC, UNHCR would not be able to tell us where the refugees would be Burundians who came in 1976 and would have what status in the DRC, and even worse UNHCR is not even able to propose a solution for the wave of Rwandan and Burundian refugees from the period 1990, 1994 until now. These refugees would be where, live how, have what documents or status and how many are on Congolese soil.

Instead of taking care of the protection of refugees UNHCR in the DRC has become more of a political tool, even using its influence to destroy authorities and institutions, as we currently observe that the National Commission for Refugees (CNR) which is a simple figure entirely on the payroll of UNHCR. By observing the maneuvering of power in UNHCR and the CNR we find visibility of Actors either Rwandan or pro-Rwanda who are at the top of decision-making, the only intervention of the CNR and UNHCR towards refugees especially here in the East of the DRC remains for years forced repatriations to Rwanda, this is akin to a simple execution of Rwanda’s Foreign Policy targeting Rwandan refugees wherever they find themselves. While the whole world mobilized against the British Government for sending Asylum Seekers to Rwanda, the CNR and UNHCR benefit from impunity and find the luxury of sending refugees to Rwanda under the pretext of voluntary repatriations. , the Democratic Republic of Congo is the only country in the world that sends refugees to Rwanda.

Here in Goma, testimonies indicate a practice of CNR/UNHCR agents who reside in Rwanda and especially that their movement is visible at the border while this would put at risk the efforts of refugee protection and especially neutrality and peace. the impartiality of UNHCR, likewise the large part of the refugees in North Kivu are Hutu and yet the CNR and UNHCR would have influential and strategic agents who would be Tutsi either from Rwanda or Congo who would be placed in the system by Rwanda .

The deportations of Rwandan refugees to Rwanda, especially Angelo Habomuremye and David Habimana, illustrate the active role that the CNR/HCR would play in facilitating the Rwandan Government to commit crimes against humanity on Congolese soil, maintaining repatriations in place Forced Rwandan refugees to Rwanda which continue until now can sufficiently show the complicity of the CNR/UNHCR. Based on different cases more than 90% of security incidents, even verbal threats and intimidation either against our office or against our Facilitators are linked to people either Rwandans or pro-Rwandans who are in the security system, in UNHCR and in the CNR here in North Kivu who want to attack our efforts to protect refugees with the sole aim of pleasing Rwanda.

And finally, we would like to inform you that a large part of the fighters in the M23 are refugees recruited in Rwanda and Uganda under the eyes of UNHCR, since 2010 no human rights defenders have taken refuge in Uganda who have denounced the recruitment of refugees for the war in the DRC have benefited from neither humanitarian aid nor resettlement from the UNHCR in Uganda, and those who denounced the activities of the M23 in Uganda have been forced to flee Uganda and others are living clandestinely in Uganda without assistance even from UNHCR.

Dear Madam Representative,

We disapprove of your approach and we will always fight to defeat these plans which still put this country at risk. Our priority remains a new law which will promote the effective protection of each refugee in the DRC which was unfortunately not your objective during the meeting with the President of Parliament.

Our sincere greetings