DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO Democratic Republic of the Congo The human rights situation remained dire. Persistent large-scale attacks against civilians by armed groups and the Congolese security forces fuelled the humanitarian crisis in which nearly 7 million people were internally displaced and thousands of others fled the country. Armed groups killed thousands of civilians, and the army carried out extrajudicial executions. Sexual and gender-based violence remained prevalent, with over 38,000 reported cases in Nord-Kivu province alone during the first quarter of the year. The rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association were routinely violated. Journalists, opposition members and activists, among others, were subjected to arbitrary detention and faced unfair trials. Mining projects in Lualaba province led to the forced eviction of thousands of people from their homes and livelihoods, while Indigenous Peoples faced eviction in the name of conservation. The armed conflict continued to devastate children’s right to education. Natural disasters left hundreds dead and thousands missing. Prisons were severely overcrowded and inmates’ conditions were generally appalling. No meaningful progress was made towards accountability and justice for victims of crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations. BACKGROUND Dozens of armed groups remained active, mainly in the eastern provinces of Ituri, NordKivu and Sud-Kivu. The governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda exchanged belligerent rhetoric, accusing each other of supporting armed The State of the World’s Human Rights groups. The Congolese authorities used local militia groups, who clashed with Rwandanbacked March 23 Movement (M23) rebels in early October, after months of relative calm on the front lines. In October, President Tshisekedi announced that the “state of siege” (a form of martial law), in force in Ituri and Nord-Kivu provinces since May 2021, would be “eased”. In the context of the general elections held in December 2023, the authorities stepped up their crackdown on dissenting voices, further shrinking civic space. Meanwhile, most of the population was deprived of social, economic and cultural rights, including access to adequate food, clean water, sanitation, electricity, education, healthcare and housing. UNLAWFUL ATTACKS AND KILLINGS Armed groups continued to carry out widespread attacks against civilians, killing at least 4,000, wounding thousands and abducting scores of others nationwide. In Ituri province, the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO), a predominantly ethnic-Lendu armed group, targeted members of the rival Hema community, including within camps for internally displaced people. In one such attack on 12 June, at the Lala camp near the town of Bule, CODECO fighters shot and hacked to death at least 46 people overnight, half of whom were children, according to the Kivu Security Tracker. Armed groups identifying with the Hema community retaliated, attacking Lendu villages and killing scores of people. In January, in Nord-Kivu province, fighters of the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan armed group active in the region since the 1990s with allegiance to the Islamic State armed group, attacked Makugwe village in Beni territory. They killed at least 23 people with machetes, including six women, according to a local civil society organization. M23 rebels killed dozens of people in reprisals against civilians suspected of supporting rival armed groups or the Congolese army. According to local civil 147