Alert on the security of Kulihoshi Musikami Pecos a human rights defender based in Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kulihoshi Musikami Pecos is in-charge of Refugees in the Collective of Youth Organizations for Solidarity in DRC known as (COJESKI-DRC) under the project called Global Refugee Leaders Forum. Pecos is striving for the effective protection of refugees in eastern DRCongo, as thousands of refugees in the country lost protection since 1996 up to now.
On ground while actors mainly the refugee regime comprised of UNHCR, CNR and partners organizations seem to be implementing a policy that discourages efforts towards the protection of refugees, Pecos and his colleagues believes that refugees in eastern DRCongo have right to protection and that all stakeholders should claim back their responsibility towards refugees.
Since last year in 2021 when Pecos started his activities among refugees’ tensions with some actors in the refugee regime rose and have continued up to now, some actors within UNHCR, CNR and partner organizations seem not comfortable with the ideas of refugee rights, the idea of refugee protection and to be asked why refugee rights are violated. They have in one way of the other wanted Pecos to compromise and be part of the system that is abusing refugees in order to operate and get funding, an offer which Pecos has rejected.
Pecos believes on the advocacy for refugees rights at all levels, community level, provincial level, national level, regional level and international level. It was in this way that Pecos organized a meeting on Monday May 23rd, 2022 between refugee leaders in Goma and a visitor from the Global Refugee Network based in the United States of America at the office of COJESKI-DRC.
Few days after the meeting, allegations indicated that some actors within the refugee regime called some refugee leaders and asked them what was said in the meeting. And it was in this period that unknown people started looking for Pecos through phone calls, some claiming to be asylum seekers, others claiming to be organizations working on various issues and others claiming to come for a partnership with COJESKI-RDC.
At first this person called and claimed he is Robert, the second time he said he is Blaise and the third time he said he is Bertin.
In this morning someone who only identified himself as Bertin came to the office to look for Pecos known as Jackson from Global Refugee Leaders Forum, they explained him that we are a project of COJESKI-RDC in the process, we observed that Bertin may be coming from the Intelligence Services who wanted to know about our relationship with various authorities and our source of information. Through our engagement with Bertin this morning, we believe that he is from the Intelligence Services deployed on espionage mission at our offices.
We retaliate our engagement and determination to inform all actors who have abused refugees over the years, that the protection of refugees in eastern DRCongo cannot be a subject to negotiation, it is an obligation, and no amount of intimidations cannot divert us from that determination.
We continue calling upon the refugee regime comprised of UNHCR, CNR and partner organizations to put to the end all forms of threats and intimidations against Pecos and his colleagues either directly or indirectly through refugees who often claim are sent as messengers,
We remain open, transparent and willing to engage in any discussion that favors the protection of refugees in eastern DRCongo and have nothing to hide. We condemn the use of old practice of force through deployment of intelligence services against our staffs,
We call upon all stakeholders to come back to their sense of human beings and look with pity at the suffering of refugees in eastern DRCongo over the years, and work hard to end this human suffering, refugees do not deserve this, they are human beings, they deserve dignity,
Done in Goma, May 31st, 2022
COJESKI-DRC, Coordination of North Kivu.
Tel: +243853191163, email: refugeeleadersforum@gmail.com
