The UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) released a report [text, PDF] Wednesday describing [press release] human rights violations committed by soldiers of the Forces armèes de la Rèpublique dèmocratique du Congo (FARDC) and agents of the Police Nationale Congolaise (PNC) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that resulted in the deaths of at least 40 people. The killings took place between December 15 and December 31. The killings were related to protests in the country due to President Joseph Kabila remaining in office after his constitutional term ended on December 19. The country has passed a ban on public demonstrations in large cities in 2015, and the ban was reiterated on December 1. The FARDC and PNC were deployed to prevent and contain the expected demonstrations regarding the president’s remaining in power. UNJHRO reports that 28 people were killed by FARDC, 6 were killed by PNC, and 6 were killed by joint operations by FARDC and PNC. An additional 147 people were injured and 917 arrested during the same time period. The report states that although some of the injuries and deaths occurred during violent clashes with protesters, there was still “an excessive and disproportionate use of force, including lethal force and live ammunition on upper parts of the body.” UNJHRO has requested that the DRC to investigate the human rights violations, allow peaceful protests, and allow UNJHRO to access DRC detention centers.

The DRC has had ongoing violence for many years which has been a growing concern. In February Human Rights Watch had called [JURIST report] on the DRC to investigate killings allegedly committed by soldiers in a video released February 17. Earlier in February the UN human rights chief urged [JURIST report] the DRC to end violence against civilians. Also in February the UN human rights office expressed concern [JURIST report] over reports that at least 101 people have been killed by Congolese soldiers. Last October violent protests erupted [JURIST report] in the country after the electoral commission announced that the next presidential election, originally scheduled for November 2016, would be pushed back to 2018. The commission stated that it needed more time to prepare supplies and voter registration lists. In the beginning of 2016 former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged African leaders to avoid using loopholes and undemocratic constitutional changes to “cling to power” [JURIST report].