A/HRC/19/48 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 13 January 2012 Original: English Human Rights Council Nineteenth session Agenda items 2 and 10 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Technical assistance and capacity-building Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation and the activities of her Office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Summary The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 16/35, invited the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit a report to its nineteenth session. In line with her two previous reports, the present report outlines the main human rights developments and describes the activities of her Office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It reiterates some of the most important recommendations made by several United Nations human rights mechanisms and assesses the progress made by the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in implementing these recommendations. The High Commissioner commends the Government’s efforts to implement some of the recommendations made by her Office and by other human rights mechanisms with a view to fighting impunity, strengthening State institutions and improving the human rights situation in the country. However, she regrets that, throughout 2011, there was little improvement in the situation of the population. Her Office continues to document serious human rights violations, in particular in the east of the country. The report highlights the root causes for the persistence of human rights violations within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The structural weaknesses of State institutions, in particular the judicial system and security forces, together with practices of corruption and the presence of armed groups, result in impunity and foster systemic human rights violations. These include arbitrary and summary executions, arbitrary and illegal arrests and detentions, ill-treatment, torture, sexual violence and looting. Prisoners are often * GE.12-10132 Late submission.