Congolese migrants’ applications may be reviewed

Some 40 Congolese migrants in Malta may have their asylum applications reviewed after a UN draft report concluded that crimes committed by Rwan-dan army and allied rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo could be classified as genocide.

“An ex-officio review may be carried out once the UNHCR guidelines are published,” Refugee Commissioner Mario Friggieri told The Sunday Times yesterday.

Although the Maltese authorities have not sent back any immigrants to Congo, the migrants’ status of protection may be reviewed once the UNHCR releases a set of guidelines, Mr Friggieri said.

Head of UNHCR office in Malta Jon Hoisaeter said no actual date had been set but the plan was to publish the report soon.

Mr Hoisaeter said the UN agency frequently released new updates and guidelines on countries of origin of asylum seekers, to aid the application process.

The area in Congo where the migrants are coming from will be taken into account when reviewing applications, Mr Friggieri said. The review will be carried out without migrants needing to reapply or appeal, Mr Friggieri said.

According to the refugee commissioner, ex-officio reviews have been carried out before for other countries of origin. In October 2007, the commission reviewed all Eritrean applications, after the situation at the frontier between Ethiopia and Eritrea worsened.

The draft report details the conflict in Congo from 1993 to 2003, and states that tens of thousands of Hutus, including women, children and the elderly, were killed by the Tutsi dominated Rwandan army. However, Rwanda’s justice minister has dismissed these claims as “rubbish”.

Although the conflict is officially over, eastern Congo, which is close to the Rwandan border, remains unstable. Last Thursday, the UN Security Council discussed allegations that at least 150 women and boys were gang raped by Rwandan Hutu armed rebels in the eastern Congolese town of Luvungi and surrounding villages earlier this year.

In eastern Congo, rape is so prevalent as a weapon of war that senior UN official Margot Wallstrom called it the “rape capital of the world”.