demonstrations against civilian killings in arbitrarily banned, including two in Equateur North Kivu, including a peaceful sit-in by province and one in Mai-Ndombe province. schoolchildren and a women’s march in Once again, most human rights violations Beni, were violently dispersed by the army against media outlets and journalists were not and police. Similar tactics were also used in prosecuted. other areas, in particular against peaceful ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION demonstrations by University of Kinshasa students in July and August; a peaceful In August, there was extensive pollution to assembly convened by opposition platform the Tshikapa and Kasaï rivers and their Lamuka in September; and, from October, tributaries in southern DRC, which, according student/teacher protests in support of the to the Congolese government, was caused by teachers’ strike (see below, Right to a spillage upstream from a diamond mining education). In almost all cases, those and processing company based in northern responsible for illegally banning or Angola. The DRC government said the suppressing the demonstrations were not disaster led to at least 40 deaths, hundreds held to account. of cases of severe diarrhoea, and wiped out HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS aquatic life. The authorities’ response was slow and ineffective. A joint DRC/Angolan Human rights defenders and whistle-blowers investigation into the causes and continued to be the target of attacks and environmental consequences was threats by public institutions which were announced by the DRC authorities, but no supposed to protect them. Dozens of pro- further communication had been made about democracy and anti-corruption activists, its progress or possible reparations or environmental activists, trade union leaders guarantees of measures to avoid similar and Indigenous peoples’ rights defenders catastrophes in the future. were arbitrarily detained, harassed and even Other cases of serious environmental sentenced by courts following unfair trials. pollution were reported at and around gold The draft law on the Protection of Human mines in Ituri, Haut-Uele, South Kivu and Rights Defenders, first proposed in 2017, Maniema provinces, and copper and cobalt made no progress during 2021. mines in Haut-Katanga and Lualaba In March, two whistle-blowers were provinces. Illegal logging in the Congo Basin sentenced to death in their absence after forests continued, while the development of they revealed financial transactions made for oil and other energy projects potentially the benefit of individuals and entities under harmful to the environment continued in or international sanctions. After they fled the around the Virunga, Maiko, Upemba and country, their colleagues and family members Kundelungu national parks. were harassed by the authorities. RIGHT TO HEALTH FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION The Covid-19 death toll peaked between July At least three journalists were killed during and August, with the emergence of the Delta the state of siege period in North Kivu and variant causing an exponential increase in Ituri, apparently in connection with their deaths in several cities. In March, the first reporting, according to journalists’ rights batch of 1.7 million AstraZeneca doses was organization Journaliste En Danger. At least received through the COVAX initiative. 11 journalists were arbitrarily detained, However, delays in the vaccination roll-out sometimes violently, while they tried to carry due to vaccine hesitancy and poor planning out their work. Several journalists were resulted in 1.3 million doses being returned threatened or intimidated by state agents, and redistributed to other African countries political leaders, and members of armed according to the Global Alliance for Vaccines groups. At least three media outlets were and Immunizations. The DRC received an Amnesty International Report 2021/22 148