Documenting Refugees for peace in DRCongo

Report on the protection of Rwandan Refugees around Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, what have we done and why we need your support?

The case of Angelo and his family remains for us a reference in order to advocate for the end of forced repatriation of refugees back to Rwanda. Angelo was abducted in Goma in May 26^th, 2021 and was deported to Rwanda, later on his family was also sent to Rwanda in circumstances we do not know.

In line with the theme of the World Refugee Day in June 20^th “Every Action Counts”, we remain engaged towards the effective protection of refugees in DRCongo and we believe such a task is possible. We are frustrated every day with bad news of refugees who have been repatriated back to Rwanda against their will by UNHCR and the DRCongo Government under the Congolese National Commission for Refugees known as CNR. We are also concerned with the recent tripartite meeting in Geneva between DRC, Rwanda and UNHCR which concluded an agreement to repatriate refugees in both countries, and this against their own will.

On the other hand we continue receiving cases of those who were repatriated by force and managed to run away back to DRC where they are living into hiding and without document, such life reduces their chance to struggle for the survival.

And lastly we were informed that Angelo’s family was also sent back to Rwanda by UNHCR and CNR,

In order to challenge this and to promote the effective protection of refugees, we organized a day of Reflection on Friday May 26^th 2023 in Goma in memory of Angelo and his family. The purpose was to advocate for the end of such practices, we are pleased to note the presence of the key actors mainly a delegation from the Congolese National Intelligence Services known as ANR, a delegation from the Mayor of Goma’s Office, a delegation from the United Nations Human Rights Office, 13 organizations members of the Civil Society, 4 media groups, and representatives from refugees among them: Those who were repatriated to Rwanda but came back to Goma, those who ran away from Rwanda of recent, those who do not want to go to Rwanda, and those who were mobilized to go to Rwanda.

We highly regret the absent of UNHCR and the CNR who are directly involved in this forced repatriation, we also regretted the absence of the Police and the Army who play a role, yet the army had confirmed its presence. We shall continue with these activities to bring actors together and debate of this problem but these activities are costly.  

We have so far been engaged in social media to oppose the signature of agreement between DRC, Rwanda and UNHCR in order to repatriate refugees in both countries. We were invited for a talk-show by Sauti ya Injili Radio based in Goma and this programme was broadcasted by five FM Radios in Goma where we opposed the repatriation deal, the programme also witnessed the presence of Honorable Member of Parliament Prince Kihangi, and regretted the absence of UNHCR and CNR who declined the invitation. We have also made public a press-release to distance ourselves from that agreement which we believe once put in place will violate the rights of freedom of choice of refugees, and pose a threat to voluntary repatriation. We shall also continue with such advocacy initiatives in order to discourage this and highly involve the media at national level but also this is costly.

On ground, we have resumed our activities to issue papers to asylum-seekers in order to challenge the allegations that they are not refugees, and so far 76 households were registered in May 2023 at our office. The recording is done twice per week that is Monday and Thursday. This also we continue for long time because the number of those who are not yet known is high, and later on our desire is to seek for partnership with the Governor of the Province to issue them a temporal document. Our intention is to record them every day and also create awareness about this in various areas and mobilize them to come, such field work also is costly,

We also recorded 10 cases of refugees arrested arbitrary among them 6 were sent to the main prison and urgently need a legal representation but we do not yet have money for this, we intervened for 9 cases with authorities at local levels, and we are handling 3 cases of conflict of interests between refugees and the local host communities. We also need funding for legal services to refugees and asylum-seekers,   

Since April 2023 up to now, we have been trying to have a meeting with UNHCR and CNR over these things but they are not yet willing to engage with us, however we are encouraged with various meetings we had so far with MONUSCO Political Affaires Officers in Goma, and the Diplomatic Mission of France in Goma, where we exposed what we have observed on ground about refugees. We also need money to engage various actors ranging from local authorities, the Civil Society, Government institutions, Humanitarian Actors, UN Institutions and Development partners on this issue of refugees, but also to carry out research work in order to build an evidence based approach,

This is why we are appealing to you to support our work, and together we can offer better options solutions for Rwandan refugees in DRC.

Thanks

Jean Pascal Mugaruka

Coordinator