A/HRC/10/58 page 5 5. Sexual violence has reached pandemic proportions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Far from being limited to the context of armed conflict, it occurs throughout the country. Despite the reinforcement of laws punishing sexual violence and the increased attention given to the problem of sexual violence in eastern Congo by the Government and the international community, cases of sexual violence, often perpetrated by members of the FARDC, PNC and armed groups, remain widespread. II. HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN THE CONTEXT OF ARMED CONFLICTS IN EASTERN CONGO A. Massive human rights violations committed by all forces in North Kivu 6. In spite of the Goma Peace Agreements, signed in early 2008, large scale violations of human rights and international humanitarian law occurred in North Kivu both before and after open hostilities resumed on 28 August 2008 involving the FARDC, the CNDP, the Patriotes Résistants Congolais (PARECO) Mayi-Mayi and the FDLR. Fighting between the FARDC and the CNDP subsided with the launching in January 2009 of a joint Congolese-Rwandan operation to disarm the FDLR and the planned reintegration of CNDP forces into the FARDC. 7. On 5 November 2008, in the deadliest massacre of the conflict which had pitted the CNDP against the FARDC and pro-Government Mayi-Mayi forces, the CNDP arbitrarily executed at least 64 people in the town of Kiwanja, mainly young men accused of being members of the Mayi-Mayi or of collaborating with them. There are strong indications that the death toll was higher, but the UNJHRO has been unable to confirm additional deaths due to concerns for the safety of victims and witnesses and the volatile security situation in Kiwanja. The CNDP occupied Kiwanja after FARDC soldiers retreated from the locality. Camps for internally displaced persons in Kiwanja and neighbouring Rutshuru were dismantled. During the same period, 65 men were abducted by the CNDP, of which more than half were later released following contacts between the UNJHRO and CNDP authorities in Rutshuru. UNJHRO also obtained first-hand witness testimony of other human rights abuses, including forced recruitment, forced disappearance, rape, castration, arbitrary arrest, looting and destruction of property. 8. FARDC troops were also responsible for serious human rights violations during the recent conflict in North Kivu. As the CNDP expanded its control over the region north of Goma throughout September and October 2008, fleeing FARDC elements committed numerous human rights violations including 11 cases of arbitrary killing, 2 cases of summary execution and 49 cases of rape, according to an UNHJRO investigation. FARDC troops also pillaged houses, shops, medical centres, schools and humanitarian convoys along their way. During investigation missions carried out in November 2008, the UNJHRO observed evidence of pillaging in various locations on the Kanyabayonga-Lubero axis. Members of eight FARDC brigades, for instance, looted private property between 10 and 20 November 2008 in Kanyabayonga, a village which at the time had been under their control for over three weeks. 9. UNJHRO investigations also point to serious abuses committed by FDLR forces. More than 100 retaliatory killings by the FDLR against civilians attempting to flee their villages or resist looting are alleged to have taken place since the beginning of the aforementioned