Resolution nº S/RES/2502(2019) of the United Nations Security Council

• Year: 2019
• Issuer: Security Council of the United Nation

United Nations

S

/RES/ 2502 (2 019)

Security Council

Distr. : Genera l

19 Dece mber 20 19

19-221 63 (E)

*1922163*

Resolution 2502 (2019)

Adopte d by the Security Council at its 8692nd m eeting , on

19 Decemb er 2019

The Security Council ,

Reca llin g its previous resoluti ons and t he statem ents of it s Presid ent conce rning

the D emocrat ic Repub lic of the Congo (D RC), esp ecially i ts resolu tions 2478 (20 19),

2463 (2019) , 2424 (2 018), 240 9 (2018 ), 2389 (201 7), and previo us reso lutions

rega rding t he man date o f MONU SCO a nd the san ctions r egime esta blished by

reso lutions 1493 (2 003) an d 1807 ( 2008),

Reaf firm ing the basic princip les of pe acekeep ing, inc luding consen t of the

part ies, im partiali ty, a nd non -use of forc e, exce pt in self-d efence and de fence of the

mand ate, and recogni sing tha t the ma ndate o f each p eace-ke eping m ission i s specif ic

to th e need and situa tion of the cou ntry co ncerned,

Reaf firm ing its str ong com mitmen t to the soverei gnty, ind ependen ce, uni ty and

terri torial in tegrity of the D RC as wel l as all States in the reg ion and empha sisin g t he

need to res pect fully th e p rinciples o f n on-inte rferenc e, good-ne ighbour liness and

regi onal coo peratio n,

Reca llin g that th e Gov ernment of t he DR C bear s the primar y resp onsibil ity to

prot ect civili ans within its te rritory an d subject to its jurisd iction, in cluding pr otectio n

from crimes against humanit y and wa r crime s,

Noti ng that th e DRC contin ues to suffer from r ecurri ng and evolvi ng cycl es of

conf lict an d per sistent vio lence by forei gn an d dome stic a rmed group s, wh ich

exac erbate a dee ply concer ning secu rity, human ri ghts and hum anitar ian crisis, as well

as i nter-com munal an d milit ia viole nce in a reas of the DRC,

Recog nisi ng t he effort s of the Go vernmen t and th e people of the DR C aiming at

the achiev ement of pe ace a nd na tional develo pment, furth er rec ognising the effort s

of the Arme d Fo rces of the DR C ( FARD C) and the Unite d Nations Org anizati on

Stab ilisatio n M ission in the DRC (M ONUSCO) in ad dressing th e th reat posed by

arme d grou ps in the DRC , enc oura ging t he cont inuation of e fforts b y the Secretar y-

Gene ral of t he U nited Natio ns, his special envo y f or th e Gr eat Lakes, the Africa n

Unio n (AU) , the Intern ational Confer ence on th e Grea t Lake s Regi on (I CGLR), the

Sout hern Africa n Develop ment Comm unity (S ADC) and si gnatory St ates of the P eace

and Sec urity (PSC ) Framewor k for the DRC and t he region to res tore peace a nd

secu rity in the DRC, and enc oura ging t he Gov ernment of t he DR C to ensu re

cont inuous c lose coo peratio n with t hese an d other internati onal pa rties,

S/RES/2502 (2019)

19-22163

2/17

Reco gnis ing the impo rtance of confide nce-bui lding, f acilitat ion, med iation, a nd

comm unity engagem ent to achie ve pea ce and secur ity in the D RC, a nd the need for

MONU SCO, a s approp riate an d when possible , to con tinue to explore how it can use

thes e techn iques to enha nce its abilit y to supp ort the Miss ion’s pro tection, its

infor mation ga thering an d situatio nal awaren ess, and to im plement its man dated task s,

incl uding to protec t civilia ns,

Reaf firm ing the im portant role of women and yout h in the p reventi on and

reso lution of conflict s, and in peace building , s tress ing the impor tance of th eir f ull,

effec tive and mean ingful part icipation in all e fforts f or the m aintena nce of and

prom otion of peace a nd secu rity in the DRC,

Expre ssing great concern over the human itarian situat ion t hat ha s left at least

15.6 milli on Co ngolese in need o f hum anitari an ass istance, furth er expressi ng dee p

conc ern regar ding the growing numb er o f int ernall y dis placed person s in the DRC

with 5.0 1 mi llion estima ted to ha ve been displac ed a s of Dece mber 2019, and the

538, 000 r efugees and 10.000 asyl um s eekers in t he DR C, a s well as the more than

865, 000 re fugees from the DRC in Afri ca as a result of o ngoin g hos tilities, furt her

calli ng upon the DRC and al l States in th e region to work towards a peace ful

envir onment con ducive to t he real ization of dura ble sol utions for refug ees an d

inter nally disp laced perso ns, includ ing their eve ntual volu ntary retur n and

reint egratio n in t he DRC in co ndition s of s afety and dig nity, wi th the suppor t of t he

Unit ed Natio ns Cou ntry Team (UNCT), stress ing that an y such solution should be in

line with rel evant ob ligation s u nder int ernatio nal refug ee law, i nternati onal

huma nitaria n law and inter national huma n righ ts la w, an d c omme ndi ng Uni ted

Nati ons human itarian a gencies, p artners, and do nors for th eir efforts to pro vide urgen t

and coord inated s upport to th e popula tion, calli ng on m ember S tates an d other

inter nationa l partne rs to s cale up fund ing and contrib ute to the Unite d Natio ns

huma nitarian appea ls for the DRC and t he regi on to help en sure th at Unit ed Nati ons

huma nitarian agencie s and oth er intern ational organizat ions are fully f unded an d able

to urg ently re spond to the huma nitarian needs in the coun try, includ ing by a ddressin g

the prote ction a nd a ssistanc e nee ds of intern ally displace d per sons, all s urvivor s of

sexu al and g ender-ba sed vio lence, a nd othe r vulner able com munit ies,

Expre ssing grave concern abou t the curren t outbr eak o f the Ebola virus in th e

DRC, which has affe cted mo re than 3,300 people and clai med the lives o f more than

2,10 0 people to date, highlig htin g th e urgenc y of the Ebola re sponse a nd recal ling its

PRS T/2019/6 in that regards ,

Reca llin g all i ts rel evant r esolut ions o n wom en, p eace a nd se curity, on yo uth,

peac e and s ecurity, o n childr en and armed c onflict, and on the pro tection of civil ians

in armed confli ct, welcomin g efforts of the Governm ent o f the DRC i n this rega rd,

furt her welcomin g effort s by the Gov ernment of the DRC to imple ment resolut ion

1325 (2000 ), also reca llin g the co nclusio ns on child ren and arm ed confli ct in the DRC

(S/AC. 51/2 018 /2) adopted on 7 Augus t 2018 b y the Secu rity Co uncil Worki ng Group

on Childr en a nd Arme d Co nflict pertai ning to t he pa rties in armed confli cts o f the

DRC, expres sing gr ave con cern o ver the high n umber of viol ations agains t child ren,

in particu lar s exual and g ender- based violenc e bein g com mitted by securit y forc es,

furt her c alling on all actor s to cont ribute to the rehabi litation and rein tegrati on o f

chil dren for merly as sociate d with ar med gro ups and forces,

Welcom ing the effor ts of MON USCO and intern ational part ners in d elivering

trai ning in hum an rights , interna tional hu manitari an law, gend er mainst reaming, child