KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The situation that forced children into the ranks of Congolese armed militias hasn't changed in a country ravaged by war, a humanitarian official said.
The International Rescue Committee notes that at least 5.4 million people in the country were killed by war or disease since 1998. Children, aid workers with DRC's Office for Volunteer Service for Children and Health said, are still conscripted forcibly by area militias.
"The situation that brought them into an armed group has not changed," Murhabazi Namegabe, a Congolese aid official working in coordination with UNICEF, said in a statement.
Human Rights Watch said that, while the DRC government has taken key steps to investigate atrocities committed in the country, the international community hasn't done enough to follow up on a U.N. report that highlighted wide-ranging human rights abuses in DRC.
The DRC supreme court upheld results that indicated President Joseph Kabila won a November election over opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi. Human Rights Watch said it had evidence to suggest dozens of people were killed and many more arrested since the declaration made in favor of Kabila.
