ZAIRE

RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Government of Zaire:

1. Abide by the binding norms of international humanitarian law applicable to the current situation of armed conflict, and in particular:

* prohibit targeting civilians and civilian objects in military operations and indiscriminate attacks, looting, raping, and destruction of civilian property;

* ensure humane treatment for all persons detained or otherwise hors de combat in connection with the conflict; torture and extrajudicial execution should never be tolerated;

* permit and facilitate access by relief assistance programs so that noncombatants in war-affected areas may receive food, medicine, and other relief. Relief assistance programs of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other agencies should be allowed to proceed in accordance with humanitarian need and their respective missions, without hindrance. Provide safe land, river and air access for the provision of humanitarian aid;

* permit the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit persons detained in connection with the conflict;

* prohibit the recruitment and use of child soldiers and to facilitate the demobilization, rehabilitation and return to society of such children;

* investigate the violation of international humanitarian law by members of the government's military and security forces and to hold them criminally accountable for such abuses; government forces that have obstructed the delivery of relief supplies, attacked relief workers or otherwise obstructed the work of humanitarian agencies should be the object of investigation and prosecution;

* cooperate with measures undertaken by the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity and international humanitarian and human rights organizations to monitor, investigate and provide remedies for human rights and humanitarian emergencies in Zaire.

2. Abide by the international human rights treaties to which Zaire is a party, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, taking action to this effect to:

* repeal provisions in Zairian law in violation of international standards, including:

- ordinances giving police powers of detention to local authorities, functionaries of federal offices, and the secret police SNIP;

- Law No. 81-002 of June 29, 1981 on Zairian Nationality, in that its effect was to strip many Zairians of their nationality on an arbitrary basis, solely by reason of their ethnicity;

- the decree issued by the information and press minister on February 14, 1997 banning private radio and television stations from producing, broadcasting, or relaying political programs;

- the decision by the Zairian government on February 14, 1997 to ban all public demonstrations and general strikes throughout the Republic of Zaire.

* amend Decree No. 0021 of August 2, 1996 (concerning the identification of nationals, the census and the electoral roll), so that no Zairian will be disenfranchised by reason of their language, ethnicity or for other arbitrary and discriminatory reasons;

* address on an urgent basis inhumane treatment in police cells and prisons. Ill-treatment, in the form of beatings, exposure to the elements or threats, should be stopped. Threats to prisoners' lives or health now present in many detention centers, in the form of poor sanitation, nutrition, ventilation or overcrowding and the lack of medical care, should be remedied. Prisoners' basic needs should be met or they should be released. Those responsible for the inhumane treatment of prisoners should be subject to criminal investigation and prosecution;

* institute safeguards against torture, including by bringing all detainees before a judicial authority without delay; ending routine incommunicado detention; providing for prompt and regular access to detainees by relatives, doctors and legal counsel;

* institute further safeguards against "disappearance" and extrajudicial execution, including provisions that no one ever be held in secret detention, prisoners only be held in places publicly acknowledged as places of detention, relatives be promptly informed of the whereabouts of prisoners, and prisoners be held only under the supervision of the courts;

* respect freedom of expression, lifting arbitrary restrictions on the print media and public broadcasting and ceasing harassment and arbitrary detention of journalists, political commentators and others solely for the expression of their opinions;

* respect freedom of assembly, lifting the arbitrary restrictions imposed by law and in practice on public meetings and halting arbitrary police actions to ban or disperse such meetings and demonstrations;

* respect freedom of association, halting arbitrary arrests, intimidation and acts of violence targeting participants in nonviolent civil organizations;

* recognize the rights of human rights defenders in Zaire to monitor, investigate, and speak out on human rights concerns and freely to associate with others nationally and internationally in the promotion and protection of human rights;

* release all those imprisoned on strictly political grounds or who have not been charged with a recognizable criminal offence;

* abolish the death penalty in any of its forms, including executions after summary court martials and extrajudicial executions by forces under its command. Human Rights Watch opposes the infliction of capital punishment in all cases: because of its inherent cruelty, because it is most often carried out in a discriminatory manner, and because the fallibility of all criminal justice systems assures that even when full due process of law is respected innocent persons are sometimes executed-and such miscarriages of justice can never be corrected.

To the ADFL:

1. Abide by the binding norms of international humanitarian law applicable to the current situation of armed conflict, and in particular:

* prohibit targeting civilians and civilian objects in military operations and indiscriminate attacks;

* ensure humane treatment for all persons detained or otherwise hors de combat in connection with the conflict; torture and extrajudicial execution should never be tolerated;

* permit and facilitate access by relief assistance programs so that noncombatants in war-affected areas may receive food, medicine, and other relief. Provide safe land, river and air access for the provision of humanitarian aid;

* permit the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit persons detained in connection with the conflict;

* prohibit the recruitment and use of child soldiers and facilitate the demobilization, rehabilitation, and return to society of such children;

* refrain from inflicting the death penalty in any of its forms, including executions after summary court martials and extrajudicial executions by forces under its command;

* investigate the violation of international humanitarian law by members of ADFL and allied forces and hold them accountable for such abuses in procedures that meet the minimum standards of due process established in international humanitarian law:

Observe the minimum standards set out in article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, paragraph 1(d), which prohibits at any time and in any place whatsoever "the passing of sentences" without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples." Such guarantees should include the right to appeal and, Human Rights Watch strongly urges, the elimination of the death penalty.

Respect the authoritative guidance with regard to minimum standards of due process provided by Protocol II Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Article 6, relating to the prosecution and punishment of criminal offences related to the armed conflict, notably paragraph 2:

No sentence shall be passed and no penalty shall be executed on a person found guilty of an offence except pursuant to a conviction pronounced by a court offering the essential guarantees of independence and impartiality. In particular:

(a) the procedure shall provide for an accused to be informed without delay of the particulars of the offence alleged against him and shall afford the accused before and during his trial all necessary rights and means of defense;

(b) no one shall be convicted of an offence except on the basis of individual penal responsibility;

(c) no one shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence, under the law, at the time when it was ommitted; nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than that which was applicable at the time when the criminal offence was committed; if, after the commission of the offence, provision is made by law for the imposition of a lighter penalty, the offender shall benefit thereby;

(d) anyone charged with an offence shall have the right to be tried in his presence;

(e) no one shall be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt;

To all opposition forces:

The ADFL and other opposition forces should pledge that upon forming a government they would:

* abide by the international human rights instruments to which Zaire is party and ratify the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and Protocol II Additional to the Geneva Conventions;

* support as an urgent priority the development of an independent judiciary;

* ensure that anyone detained is brought promptly before a judicial authority after arrest;

* ensure that no one will be detained without being charged with a recognizable criminal offence and being brought promptly to trial before an independent court;

* implement programs to train law enforcement agents and the military about human rights standards and protection while instituting procedures through which violations of human rights are the subject of effective investigation and criminal prosecution. Training should be in accordance with the norms established in the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on December 17, 1979), the Guidelines for the effective implementation of the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (adopted by the U.N. Economic and Social Council on May 24, 1989), and such standards as the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials (adopted by the Eighth U.N. Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders on September 7, 1990);

* introduce on an urgent basis measures to protect all persons under any form of detention by meeting the standards established in the U.N. Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on December 9, 1988) and by bringing all detention facilities to the standards established in the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (adopted by the U.N. Economic and Social Council by resolutions of July 31, 1957) and its Procedures for the Effective Implementation of the Standard Minimum Rules;

* derogate provisions in Zairian law that are in violation of international standards;

* repudiate arbitrary measures to strip Kinyarwanda-speaking Zairians-the Banyarwanda-or other minorities of their Zairian nationality. Citizenship must not be revoked on ethnic or other discriminatory grounds;

* investigate and facilitate independent investigations of violations of human rights or humanitarian law by forces of the current government as well as rebel forces with a view to public disclosure of the findings and accountability before the law of those responsible for gross abuses;

* take immediate steps to create conditions conducive to free and fair elections, such as ensuring civilian control over the military and the national gendarmerie, rendering the regional and local administration non-partisan and nationally representative, and affirming the respect of basic political freedoms including freedom of expression, association and assembly;

* encourage the independent work of local and national civic organizations, including nongovernmental organizations dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights, and remove legal or administrative obstacles to this work;

* encourage the full exercise of internationally recognized standards of free expression by Zaire's print, broadcast and other media;

* take all measures conducive to the widest participation by all Zairians in the political life of their country.

To all Members of the International Community, including the United Nations, the European Union and its member states, the United States, and the Organization of African Unity:

* Call upon both sides of the conflict to permit full, unhampered international investigations of the allegations of widespread civilian massacres in eastern Zaire.

* Insist that the need for accountability of the government of Zaire and the ADFL for human rights abuses committed in territories under their respective control not be set aside in the name of easing a negotiated settlement of the current conflict in Zaire. Those responsible for ethnic slaughter and other gross abuses should not be granted impunity in a deal-making process in which the long-term goals of the rule of law are sacrificed for short-term political expediency.

* Hold all parties to the conflict responsible for attacks by their combatants against civilians. Both the government and the rebels should be pressed to investigate reports of such attacks, to make the findings public, and to bring to justice those responsible.

* Make any commitment of aid to the present or any future government, including election assistance, dependent on concrete steps toward respecting human rights and creating the conditions for free and fair elections, including:

* reforming the army and the national gendarmerie as non-partisan and nationally-representative forces under civilian control;

* establishing basic political freedoms, including freedom of speech, particularly making public radio and television available to all points of view; and

* reforming the regional and local administrations into non-partisan and nationally-representative institutions.

* Monitor closely and make public reports regarding the actual progress toward implementation of programs to prepare for elections.

* Support programs by organizations of civil society in Zaire to promote respect for human rights, propagate a democratic culture, and train independent election monitors.

Specific Recommendations to the United Nations:

To the Security Council:

* Immediately appoint a commission to investigate allegations of widespread civilian massacres in eastern Zaire by all parties and make public the commission's report.

To the U.N. Center for Human Rights:

* Ensure that the U.N. Human Rights Office in Kinshasa is able to perform its important monitoring function. Support the office's budget with sufficient resources for extensive internal travel and improved communications.