A/HRC/16/68 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 9 March 2011 Original: English and French Human Rights Council Sixteenth session Agenda item 10 Technical assistance and capacity-building Third joint report of seven United Nations experts on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo* Summary The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 13/22. In the report, the experts reiterate their deep concern at the serious human rights situation in the country, which has reportedly not improved since their initial report (A/HRC/10/59). While acknowledging with appreciation the willingness of the Congolese authorities to improve its cooperation with the international community in the field of human rights, including with the special procedures of the Council, the experts wish to highlight that, for such cooperation to be fruitful, especially in relation to the global action plan, it needs to be sustained and based on regular and flexible exchange and dialogue. The late responses from the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to letters sent by the experts regrettably do not meet these criteria. Similarly, the Government has responded to less than 7 per cent of the urgent appeals and allegation letters sent by the experts since they were requested to report for the first time on the human rights situation in the country, in March 2008. The experts are of the view that the current mandate given to a group of seven thematic special procedures mandate holders, who undertake this task in addition to the considerable workload entailed by their respective mandates, does not have the necessary flexibility and reactivity to ensure a regular dialogue with the Congolese authorities, and is therefore not the most suitable mechanism to respond to the specific needs of the country. By visiting the country several times and by elaborating specific recommendations related to their respective mandates, which are still relevant and applicable to the human rights situation in the country, they have made their maximum contribution to the improvement of the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The experts strongly believe that follow-up to the present recommendations (A/HRC/10/59) and assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in this regard, in * Late submission. GE.11-11656