Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democracy Events

Wednesday, February 24 – Saturday, February 27 – “Voices from Afghanistan” Exhibit – Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE – On February 24, a new exhibit at the Library of Congress will display some of the thousands of hand-painted scrolls and letters received by Radio Azadi, RFE/RL’s popular Afghan radio station. [read full story]

DRC offensive against media, civil society activists, bodes ill for poll

Threats and attacks against Congolese human rights defenders and media have continued and bode ill for civil society activists as the 2011 national elections approach. 
This evening in DRC, the national TV station (RTNC) attacked several pro-democracy groups, partners of the National Endowment for Democracy, for seeking to undermine the Congolese state, an accusation similar to [read full story]

Democracy activists urge UN to defend human rights defenders in DRC

Democracy and civil society groups are demanding urgent action to address the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the DRC army, the FARDC (Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo), are largely responsible for egregious human-rights violations in North and [read full story]

2009 a year of living dangerously as autocrats target activists

Authoritarian regimes have deliberately targeted and intensified attacks against human rights and democracy advocates over the past year, according to the annual review of Human Rights Watch. [read full story]

DRC activist attacked

The home of Emmanuel Kabengele, the head of a leading Congolese human rights group, has been burned down.  The cause of the blaze is unclear but arson is suspected as Kabengele, based in Mbuji Mayi, in East Kasai Province, has been harassed in recent months. 
The group – the Centre d’Etudes et de Formation Populaire pour [read full story]

Fear and instinct help DRC journalists survive

Journaliste En Danger has published its annual report on the state of freedom of the press in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The group’s head, Donat M’baya, was interviewed on the premier radio station, Radio Okapi, to discuss the findings. 
In 2009, JED documented 75 cases of attacks on the press, work which NED helps finance.  [read full story]

Jobs & Opportunities

Rights & Democracy’s International conference on Sharia and family law reform
Rights & Democracy, the Canadian democracy assistance group, is searching for two speakers to present papers at an international conference on Sharia and family law reform in Muslim countries that we are hosting next February in Kabul, Afghanistan. We are looking for speakers with [read full story]

Business and labor active in informal sector

Check out CIPE’s blog for this TV report on their work with street vendors in Cairo.
It is tempting for democracy assistance practitioners to focus on the usual established institutions, but many are realizing that they ignore the informal sector at their peril, not least because if democrats don’t engage there it will likely prove fertile [read full story]

Activist’s arrest shows DRC’s democratic deterioration

Democracy activists are expressing deep concern over the arrest of Robert Ilunga Numbi, who was arrested with three other members of Les Amis de Nelson Mandela pour la defense des Droits Humains (ANMDH), a human rights NGO based in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
“This arbitrary arrest is just one more example of the deterioration of [read full story]

Release Golden Misabiko, DRC NGOs demand

Dave Peterson, senior director of the National Endowment for Democracy’s Africa program, draws our attention to an impressive demonstration of solidarity by over 200 groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo in support of NED partner Golden Misabiko of ASADHO/Katanga. 
“Ironically,” he notes, “the report the government sought to repress will now be more known than [read full story]

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