Frank Balimbasa is a human rights defender and the head of the regional office of Réseau d’Information et d’Appui aux ONG nationales (RIAO RDC), a network of 256 non-governmental organisations and 333 farmers' associations across different provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). RIAO-RDC has played a prominent role working with communities in rural areas of the DRC to defend land and resource rights. The human rights defender is actively supporting communities affected by the oil palm plantation company PHC (formerly Feronia). On 15 September 2021, he was reportedly arrested without a warrant by police and military officers in Lokutu and taken into custody, where he reported being subjected to ill-treatement by police officers.