(AGENPARL) – Sat 19 July 2025 Logo ICRC EN.jpg      International Committee of the Red Cross
DRC: The ICRC stands ready to support detainee releases between conflict parties 
ICRC – News Release
19 July 2025
GENEVA (ICRC) — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stands ready to help facilitate the release of people detained in relation to the conflict under a declaration agreed between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Congo River Alliance/M23 Movement (AFC/M23). 
“Our team in DRC will help facilitate the release of detainees on both sides so that they can be safely returned home and reunited with their families,” said ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric. “Humanitarian initiatives such as detainee releases are often the first steps that can build confidence and trust between parties in the long path to peace.” 
“The brutal conflict in eastern DRC has trapped generations of civilians in a decades-long cycle of suffering, death and displacement,” said President Spoljaric. “This declaration mediated by Qatar, combined with an agreement signed between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda in Washington, DC last month, creates an important opportunity for the region to chart a new future rooted in peace and stability.” 
The ICRC has worked in DRC since 1978, providing protection and assistance to victims of armed conflict.
About the ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.
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