Rebel group names

March 23rd Movement (M23)

 

Background Information

The M23 was established under General Makenga Sultani in opposition to the peace treaty signed by the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) and the DRC government. The group, composed of members from the Tutsi ethnic group, aims to secure greater influence over the current Congolese government and greater security for Tutsi communities.

 

Source of Funding

Neighboring countries, including Rwanda and Uganda, have provided direct military support to M23 rebels through troop reinforcements, joint planning, and weapons deliveries. Additionally, the M23 has maintained illicit trade of resources as another source of finance, selling gold, tin, and other minerals to dealers based out of Uganda.[1]

 

Estimated number of child soldiers held by rebels

The M23 hosts operations in eastern Congo as well as northern Rwanda. The rebel group is believed to hold approximately 300 child soldiers in its Congo and over 600 in Rwanda.[2]

 

Temporal scope

Since its formation in April 2012, the M23 has forcibly recruited children into its military ranks. However, a significant number of rebels, most notably General Bosco Ntaganda, led recruitment practices of child soldiers while members of other militaries, such as the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP).[3]

 

Age

The average age of recruitment by the M23 is between the ages of 16 and 18, although children under the age of 15 have been reported as working under the organization’s armed forces.[4]

 

Recruitment method

Leaders of the M23 maintain that all children currently involved in its activities operate voluntarily. However, a number of U.N. reports indicate that the M23 has forcibly recruited the majority of children used in its military ranks, abducting them from their homes or from public areas.[5]

 

DDR (disarmament, demobilization, reintegration) program

Did the group participate in DDR program? When? Was UN involved?

The M23 has neither formally agreed to any DDR program nor engaged in any talks to do so in the near future.

 

 

 

Other human rights violations

During its occupation of Goma, a highly populated city in eastern Congo, Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases of summary executions. Approximately 21 of these victims were civilians.[6] In addition, the organization cited a number of other violations by the M23, including rape, torture, and forcible recruitment of individuals into its military ranks.[7]

 

Government’s human rights violations

The DRC’s national army, the Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo (FARDC), still holds children in its military ranks, despite committing to a U.N. sanctioned DDR program in 2003.[8] Additionally, the FARDC have committed a number of other human rights violations, including mass rapes, torture, and impunity for known violators. 

 

 

Other relevant information

·         Since the first Congolese civil war in the mid-1990s, recruitment of child soldiers by rebel groups in Congo has been primarily conducted in neighboring countries, such as Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi.

·         On March 18, 2013, Bosco Ntaganda, a primary leader of the M23, turned himself over to U.S. embassy officials. He has been wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity since 2006. 

 

References

"Annual report of the Secretary-General o the Security Council on Children and Armed              Conflict." U.N. Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children   and Armed Conflict. (2010).

 

Amnesty International, "Annual Report 2012: Democratic Republic of the Congo." Last modified         2012. https://www.amnesty.org/en/region/democratic-republic-congo/report-2012.

 

Child Soldiers International. Louder than Words. Child Soldiers International. "Democratic      Republic of the Congo: Heading Slowly Backwards." (2012). http://www.child-           soldiers.org/global_report_reader.php?id=562.

 

Human Rights Watch, "DR Congo: M23 Rebels Committing War Crimes." September 11, 2012.

 

Human Rights Watch, "DR Congo: War Crimes by M23, Congolese Army." February 5, 2013.

 

Human Rights Watch, "DR Congo: Congolese Warlord Should Face Justice." March 18, 2013.                 http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/03/18/send-bosco-ntaganda-icc.

 

UNSC, "Report of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo." U.N.              Security Council. (2012).

 

UNSC, "Sanctions Committee Concerning Democratic Republic of Congo Adds Two     Individuals." U.N. Security Council. (2012).