A/HRC/13/64 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 28 January 2010 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirteenth session Agenda item 10 Technical assistance and capacity-building Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights and the activities of her Office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo* Summary The Human Rights Council in its resolution 10/33 invited the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to report to the Council at its thirteenth session on the development of the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and on the activities carried out by her Office (OHCHR) in the country. The High Commissioner acknowledges the tentative efforts of the Government to align its policy and practice with the international human rights obligations it has voluntarily assumed. However, she is concerned that improvement in the human rights situation in the country, critical to achieving a well-functioning democracy, has been limited and that the human rights situation in the country remains extremely problematic. Through interaction with various parts of the United Nations human rights system, including the High Commissioner, the Human Rights Council and its special procedures, as well as the treaty bodies, numerous recommendations have been made to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, yet very limited progress has been made in their implementation. Consequently, the Congolese people remain insecure in enjoying even their most fundamental human rights. As an emerging “recommendation fatigue” can be observed, the approach of this report is not to make new recommendations to the Congolese authorities, but rather to recall conclusions and recommendations made in particular by the High Commissioner and seven thematic special procedures in their previous reports to the Council, as well as by other special procedures and treaty bodies.1 The report assesses the Government’s response * Late submission. 1 The recommendations referenced in this report are extracted from the following documents: conclusions and recommendations of the Committee against Torture, CAT/C/DRC/CO/1; United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO), “The Human Rights Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the period January to June 2007”; report of the Special Rapporteur on GE.10-10563 (E) 230210