January 30, 2026
Mr. Carson (for himself, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Doggett) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
Condemning all acts of violence, oppression, and abuse against ethnic minorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Whereas the Democratic Republic of the Congo (referred to in this Resolution as the DRC
) has been beset for decades by various challenges, including natural disasters, political unrest, abuses against civilians from many communities, and targeted ethnic-based violence;
Whereas ethnic minorities in the DRC have been the targets of an escalation of hate speech and incitement to violence nationwide, including in anti-minority rhetoric employed by some politicians and security force officials;
Whereas hate speech against certain ethnic minorities in the eastern DRC has included rhetoric from politicians and other public figures characterizing entire ethnic groups as foreigners
or invaders
despite many families having resided in the region for generations, thereby creating a climate that facilitates atrocities;
Whereas the United States, the United Nations, credible human rights organizations, the UN Group of Experts, and civil society have documented and published reports or findings that implicate the armed forces of the DRC (referred to in this Resolution as FARDC
) in aiding and collaborating with armed groups and militias, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which has been designated for United Nations sanctions due to human rights violations;
Whereas the return and expansion of M23, which maintains that it represents minority communities facing persecution and operates in response to FDLR, has coincided with large-scale displacement, and whereas credible reports document that minority communities have faced targeted violence and discrimination that M23 cites as justification for its existence;
Whereas the United States strongly urges Rwanda to fully withdraw Rwandan Defense Force troops from the DRC and cease all financial and military support for M23, in accordance with its commitment in the June 2025 peace agreement to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the DRC;
Whereas in January and February 2025, M23 forces seized the city of Goma and large areas of North and South Kivu, committing extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, and abductions, and forcibly closing displaced persons camps in February 2025, leaving thousands of civilians exposed to dire living conditions, as documented by credible human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch;
Whereas violence against ethnic minority communities perpetrated by the FARDC and government-backed militias including Rwanda-backed M23 and other DRC armed groups may constitute ethnic cleansing or meet one or more of the criteria under Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to which the United States and the DRC are parties, particularly in cases where attacks have reportedly been accompanied by genocidal rhetoric;
Whereas militias engage in illicit mining activities to finance and sustain themselves, often exploiting child labor and engaging in environmental degradation practices that undermine the DRC’s economic interests and international treaty obligations;
Whereas in April 2019, the United States and the DRC established the United States-DRC Privileged Partnership for Peace and Prosperity, to which the 2 countries added the Preservation of the Environment in February 2021, which aims to advance democracy, combat corruption and impunity, promote human rights, improve security, and encourage sustainable development and United States investment in the DRC; and
Whereas the Department of State Integrated Country Strategy for the DRC states that the success of the DRC’s democracy hinges on stability in the coun-try’s eastern provinces
: Now, therefore, be it
Sec.
That the House of Representatives—
(1)
condemns all acts of violence and human rights violations perpetrated against ethnic minorities and civilians by members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, M23, and other armed groups operating throughout the eastern DRC, including killings, sexual violence, looting, forced displacement, and the use of child soldiers, as has been documented by credible sources;
(2)
calls for increased security for the millions of people forcibly displaced in the DRC;
(3)
reaffirms that the United States holds the Government of the DRC responsible for upholding the rights of all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, in accordance with the DRC’s international obligations;
(4)
urges social media companies to curb hate speech and incitement to violence on their platforms;
(5)
appeals to neighboring countries to uphold their commitment to providing safe harbor for refugees from all communities, including ethnic minority communities, until the human rights of such refugees can be guaranteed in the DRC;
(6)
recognizes that the United States has an international obligation to uphold its commitments to prevent and punish the crime of genocide;
(7)
calls for the DRC and Rwanda to uphold their commitments stipulated in the June 2025 peace agreement, which aims to ensure the de-risking of mineral supply chains and facilitate bilateral trade and United States economic investment in the region’s minerals, and to ensure that these commitments are accompanied by additional measures to promote justice and accountability for atrocities perpetrated by all parties to the conflicts in the DRC while affirming that acknowledgment of historical patterns of discrimination, poverty, or marginalization may not be used to justify, excuse, or legitimize acts of violence against civilian populations;
(8)
calls on all regional actors to cease attacks on civilians and displaced persons camps in accordance with international humanitarian law;
(9)
urges the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to, in accordance with and in addition to its commitments made in the June 2025 peace agreement, take meaningful measures to—
(A)
cease support to nonstate armed groups, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and militias known as Wazelendo,
and hold accountable all state security forces that perpetrate atrocities against the civilian population by conducting transparent investigations and prosecutions and taking all additional necessary measures to prevent further atrocities;
(B)
continue progress toward the disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, repatriation, and resettlement of armed groups in coordination with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as outlined in United Nations Security Council Resolution 2666 (2022);
(C)
continue coordinating with the joint East African Community and Southern African Development Community Nairobi/Luanda peace process to encourage peace talks and disarmament of armed groups in eastern DRC, provided that the initiative has an overall positive effect on the security of the populace and all parties involved in the process ensure that it is transparent and well-managed;
(D)
allow and facilitate, in accordance with relevant provisions of international law and consistent with humanitarian principles, the full, safe, immediate, and unhindered access to humanitarian personnel, equipment and supplies, and the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance to populations in need, in particular to refugees and internally displaced persons throughout the territory of the DRC;
(E)
uphold its obligations as a state party to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Polit- ical Rights, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; and
(F)
combat all forms of hate speech and hold accountable any person or group responsible for ethnically charged rhetoric and incitement to violence;
(10)
urges the Secretary of State, in coordination with the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies, to—
(A)
work with other Federal departments and agencies to thoroughly investigate atrocities committed against ethnic minorities in the DRC and develop a strategy to address and deter such atrocities pursuant to section 3 of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (22 U.S.C. 2656 note);
(B)
engage at the highest level with the Government of the DRC to mitigate the humanitarian effects of ethnic-based violence; and
(C)
coordinate with like-minded partners and key stakeholders to increase and maintain engagement on the issue in multilateral fora, including the United Nations Security Council; and
(11)
calls on the President to—
(A)
appoint a Special Envoy to the Great Lakes region of Africa, which will be vital to addressing the enduring regional security crisis emanating from eastern DRC;
(B)
use all existing authorities to protect ethnic minorities who flee ethnic-based violence in the DRC, including the authority to designate ethnic minorities who are nationals of the DRC for Priority 2 access to the United States Refugee Admissions Program; and
(C)
impose targeted sanctions against known human rights abusers in the DRC under existing authorities, such as Executive Order 13413, as amended by Executive Order 13671, and Executive Order 13818, to deter further gross violations of human rights against ethnic minorities in the DRC.