defenders. It required them to register with the National Human Rights Commission, an official body, or face criminal prosecution. Those disseminating information deemed “defamatory, insulting or slanderous” risked six months to two years in prison. FORCED EVICTIONS The expansion of industrial-scale cobalt and copper mines in Lualaba province, driven by the growing global demand for energy transition minerals, fuelled forced evictions of people from their homes and farmland. The rights of thousands of people to adequate housing and freedom from violence, among other rights, were violated. The forced evictions continued throughout the year, and the authorities and the multinational companies concerned failed to comply with legal safeguards prescribed in international law and domestic legislation to protect people from forced evictions.1 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS In February, a law came into force that protects and promotes the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the result of a campaign by civil society organizations lasting over 30 years. Despite this, systemic abuses against Indigenous Peoples, particularly in the name of conservation, continued. The Indigenous Bambuti people who live in and around national parks, including Salonga and Kahuzi-Biega, both World Heritage Sites, were subjected to persistent violence from security forces and park rangers, forced evictions and other abuses. REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS Thousands of Congolese people continued to flee the country, seeking asylum, especially in African countries. According to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, between January and August around 45,000 new refugees arrived from the DRC to neighbouring countries, particularly Uganda, Rwanda (see Uganda and Rwanda entries) and Tanzania. Meanwhile, the DRC continued to host half a million people who had fled armed conflict and persecution from other African countries, 150 in particular South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Rwanda and Burundi. RIGHT TO EDUCATION The roll-out of the government’s free primary education programme continued to flounder due to poor infrastructure, inadequate state funding and, most importantly, poor conditions for teachers. Teachers’ unions resorted to strike action to push the government to honour its commitments to improve their pay, terms and conditions. The draft budget for 2024 reduced funding for the education sector from 21.6% to 18.4%. The persistence and spread of armed conflict in eastern and western DRC continued to have a devastating impact on children’s education. In March, a UNICEF report said that the education of around 750,000 children was disrupted in two of the most conflict-affected provinces in the east, due to mass displacement. Thousands of schools were attacked, forced to close due to insecurity, or used as shelters for displaced people. RIGHT TO A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT Several regions were affected by flooding, landslides, fires and other natural disasters, the frequency and scale of which could be climate-change related. Tens of thousands of people were displaced by natural disasters. In May, torrential rainfall resulted in massive flooding and mudslides in the towns of Bushushu and Nyamukubi, in Sud-Kivu’s Kalehe territory. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the disaster left over 400 people dead and more than 2,500 missing; scores of others were injured and 50,000 people were displaced. Thousands of houses were destroyed or seriously damaged. In September, heavy rainfall in the town of Lisala in Mongala province resulted in at least 17 fatalities, according to local authorities. INHUMANE DETENTION CONDITIONS Conditions of detention remained appalling and so overcrowded that some prisons held 2,000% over their intended capacity. Inmates The State of the World’s Human Rights