“Condemning all acts of violence, oppression, and abuse against ethnic minorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section condemns all acts of violence and human rights violations perpetrated against ethnic minorities and civilians in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by the Armed Forces of the DRC, M23, and other armed groups, including killings, sexual violence, looting, forced displacement, and the use of child soldiers. It calls for increased security for the millions of forcibly displaced persons in the DRC, reaffirms that the United States holds the DRC government responsible for upholding the rights of all citizens, and urges social media companies to curb hate speech and incitement to violence. The section appeals to neighboring countries to provide safe harbor for refugees from all communities and recognizes the United States’ international obligation to prevent and punish genocide. It calls for the DRC and Rwanda to uphold commitments in the June 2025 peace agreement on de-risking mineral supply chains, bilateral trade, and U.S. investment while pursuing justice and accountability for atrocities, and it urges all regional actors to cease attacks on civilians and displaced persons camps. The section urges the DRC government to cease support for nonstate armed groups such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and Wazelendo militias, advance disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, repatriation, and resettlement of armed groups in coordination with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC, continue coordinating with the East African Community and Southern African Development Community Nairobi/Luanda peace process, facilitate full humanitarian access, uphold obligations under the Genocide Convention, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Rome Statute, and combat hate speech. It urges the Secretary of State to investigate atrocities against ethnic minorities and develop a strategy to address them pursuant to the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018, engage at the highest levels with the DRC government to mitigate humanitarian effects, and coordinate with partners in multilateral fora including the United Nations Security Council. The section calls on the President to appoint a Special Envoy to the Great Lakes region of Africa, protect ethnic minorities fleeing violence through Priority 2 access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and impose targeted sanctions against human rights abusers under Executive Order 13413 (as amended by Executive Order 13671) and Executive Order 13818.