Congo-Kinshasa: Rwanda, M23 Forcibly Recruit, Detain Thousands

Nairobi — Rampant Abuses Against Civilians, Ex-Soldiers in Key Eastern Provinces

Rwandan military forces and the M23 armed group carried out a campaign of forced recruitment and abusive detention of thousands of captured combatants and civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 78-page report, "'Death Was Everywhere': Arbitrary Detention, Killings, and Forced Recruitment by the M23 and the Rwanda Defence Force," documents large-scale roundups and arrests in North and South Kivu provinces in eastern Congo, as well as grave abuses against detainees at the Rumangabo and Tshanzu training camps in North Kivu, between mid-2024 and December 2025. M23 fighters, backed by Rwandan military personnel, have committed murder, torture, corporal punishment, and used forced labor and child soldiers, researchers found. These abuses are war crimes and should be investigated as possible crimes against humanity.

"The Rwandan-backed M23 is running so-called training camps in eastern Congo, where recruits have suffered abuse and torture, at times with deadly consequences," said Clémentine de Montjoye, senior Great Lakes researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Regional bodies and partner governments should press Rwanda's authorities to stop these grave abuses and support accountability for those responsible."

Human Rights Watch interviewed 102 former detainees who escaped the Rumangabo and Tshanzu camps, were deployed with the M23, or later surrendered to the Congolese army, witnesses to abuses, as well as United Nations, M23, military, intelligence, media, and diplomatic sources. Human Rights Watch interviewed former detainees in person in Uganda and several towns in Congo and by phone in M23-controlled areas. The report also draws on verified, geolocated videos and photographs, satellite imagery of Rumangabo and Tshanzu camps, and 3D reconstruction to estimate the number of people loaded onto trucks.

Since 2024, the M23 has carried out forced recruitment drives among both civilians and captured combatants, Human Rights Watch found. After the armed group captured large swaths of territory and key eastern cities in 2025, these efforts increased in areas under their control. Thousands of Congolese soldiers, Wazalendo militia allied with national forces, police, and civilians--including children as young as 12--were recruited, sometimes voluntarily, although often forcibly.

M23 fighters set up ambushes and checkpoints on roads, apprehended people at hospitals, churches, and schools, and summoned residents under fal