Background

At the invitation of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Paula Gaviria Betancur, will conduct an official country visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 19 to 30 May 2025. During this visit, the Special Rapporteur will assess the human rights situation of internally displaced persons, and actions taken to prevent, respond to, and resolve internal displacement through human rights-based approaches. She will also identify good practices and challenges and formulate recommendations to the State and relevant stakeholders, related to the realisation of all human rights of internally displaced persons. The official country visit builds on the recent working visit of Special Rapporteur to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in November 2024 as co-lead of the IDP Protection Expert Group

Objectives

Following a country visit, the Special Rapporteur presents a report with her findings, conclusions and recommendations to the State concerned at the Human Rights Council. The conclusions and recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur are a useful tool for States to improve measures to ensure the human rights of internally displaced persons.

The Special Rapporteur will begin the visit in Kinshasa and intends to travel to other cities, towns, villages, and provinces to gain first-hand understanding of different internal displacement situations. During her visit, and as a means of gathering information from all relevant stakeholders, she intends to convene meetings with Government officials, representatives of the United Nations Country Team and MONUSCO, members of the diplomatic and donor community, representatives from non-governmental, faith-based, and civil society organizations, community-based groups, internally displaced persons themselves, and other relevant stakeholders.

At the end of the visit, the Special Rapporteur will debrief relevant Government officials on her preliminary findings, and in line with established practice, she will also hold a press conference in order to share the preliminary findings with the broader public. Additional information on the venue and time of the press conference will be shared prior to the visit.

The Special Rapporteur will submit a full report on the country visit to the Human Rights Council at its 62nd session in June 2026.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

In preparation of the visit, the Special Rapporteur invites all interested individuals and organizations from or with expertise on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including national human rights institutions, international organizations, civil society organizations, faith-based organizations, activists, academics and internally displaced persons themselves, to provide input for the preparation of her visit.

She would welcome information on internal displacement situations resulting from any and all causes including armed conflict, generalized violence, intercommunal conflict, development-induced displacement including displacement in relation to extractive industries or megaprojects, sudden and slow-onset disasters including those that occur in the context of the adverse effects of climate change, and other relevant displacement situations.

While all submissions are welcome and the below points are not meant to be exhaustive, the Special Rapporteur would be grateful to receive submissions that address the following topics:

1. Legal, institutional and policy frameworks related to internal displacement, including prevention of displacement, protection and assistance to IDPs, recognition and fulfillment of the human rights of IDPs, and promoting durable solutions to displacement, as well as human mobility components of frameworks related to housing, land, and property rights, climate change mitigation and adaptation;
2. Available data and evidence on internal displacement, including overall and disaggregated figures, trends, and causes of displacement;
3. Key protection issues confronting internally displaced persons, including physical safety and security, human rights challenges, access to legal assistance and justice, and other relate issues;
4. Standards of living and access to basic services for internally displaced persons, including healthcare, psychosocial support, adequate food, water, sanitation, electricity, housing, livelihoods, social services and benefits;
5. Participation of internally displaced persons in decisions and processes that affect them, including peace processes;
6. The role of community-based protection in preventing the risks of displacement and protecting IDPs from violence and other abuses;
7. Intersectionality, with a specific attention to different segments of the internally displaced population including women, older persons, children and youth, persons with disabilities, ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities, Indigenous persons, persons of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, etc.
8. Gender issues and sexual and gender-based violence in the context of displacement, such as rape, forced and early marriage, sexual exploitation and human trafficking
9. Durable solutions, with a particular focus on the conditions for the safe and voluntary return of IDPs, local integration or settlement elsewhere in the country and the progress made towards achieving durable solutions
10. Other priority issues/concerns and situations that warrant the attention of the Special Rapporteur in view of her mandate;
11. Suggestions on issues to examine and related locations to visit, particularly outside of the capital;
12. Contact information for stakeholders to meet in different locations with description of their relevance to the mandate

How inputs will be used?

All inputs will be treated confidentially by the Special Rapporteur and her team, and for the sole purpose of preparing for the country visit.

Reports, academic studies and other types of background materials can be attached as annexes to the submission.

The Special Rapporteur greatly appreciates the effort that goes into making such contributions and looks forward to reading the submissions.

Media inquiries

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