Human Rights Working Groups

The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has initiated a new methodology whose main objective is to promote a gradual improvement in respect for human rights in five priority areas in the DRC, while continuing to monitor and analyze human rights violations on a regular basis. Five task forces have been set up to address the five major human rights concerns in the country:

  1. Sexual and gender-based violence
  2. Summary, arbitrary, and extrajudicial executions
  3. Arbitrary arrests and illegal detentions/disappearances
  4. Torture and deaths in detention
  5. Economic rights violations/illegal mining

The Working Groups (WGs) are composed of representatives from each field office and specialized units.

WG on Sexual and gender-based violence

As its name suggests, the WG's objective is to combat the impunity that characterizes the wave of sexual violence that has marked the transition period in the DRC. Far from being limited to the context of armed conflict, sexual and gender-based violence is present throughout the country as a perverse result of the unequal power relations between state agents and civilians, especially women, and within the population itself.

In 2009, President Kabila declared a zero-tolerance policy towards perpetrators of rape, and the WG is working with the government to make this policy a reality. However, much work remains to be done to reduce the shortcomings of the criminal justice system. The WG is involved in the implementation of the Comprehensive Strategy to Combat Sexual Violence, a joint strategy of the Government and the United Nations, which coordinates the work on sexual violence of the Government, MONUSCO, UN agencies, international and national NGOs, and the international community, which funds a number of initiatives, such as the Joint Initiative against Sexual Violence.

The WG collaborates with the Congolese judiciary and provides logistical support for the operation of mobile courts to try perpetrators accused of sexual violence in remote areas where justice was previously inaccessible to victims.

Working at the provincial, regional, and national levels to develop new projects to address gaps in the criminal justice system, the following priority areas for action have been identified:

  • Improve the country's prison infrastructure and its functioning;
  • Expand and develop more specific training for the judicial police and the judiciary on the 2006 national law on sexual violence;
  • Improve the logistical capabilities of the police to successfully arrest suspects of sexual violence;
  • Train a greater number of women members of the judiciary;
  • Conduct civic education campaigns that discourage out-of-court settlements in cases of rape and the stigmatization of victims, as well as media campaigns to warn potential perpetrators of rape of the penalties they face.

Some international and national legal tools:

See also the page of the Sexual Violence Unit and the Gender Section of MONUSCO

WG on Summary, Arbitrary, and Extrajudicial Executions (ESAE)

The objective of the ESAE Working Group is to reduce the number and frequency of ESAE cases and to combat impunity. Despite the ratification of almost all international legal instruments relating to human rights and international humanitarian law guaranteeing and protecting the right to life and human integrity, cases of ESAE are common throughout the DRC.

Indeed, the right to life and human integrity continues to be regularly and sometimes massively violated throughout the country with complete impunity in a dual geo-socio-political and security context of post-conflict and electoral violence exacerbated by a fragile and often absent state, especially in inaccessible areas of the hinterland.

The GT-ESAE's actions are carried out in cooperation with other actors in multilateral and bilateral programs. They focus on the transfer, integration, appropriation, and sustainability of human rights and civilian protection principles and skills to local state and non-state partners who are involved, empowered, and credible.

They consist of obtaining data in the field, assisting and monitoring the DRC's compliance with its international commitments, in particular:

  • Implementing effective preventive measures to ensure the protection of human life: a community monitoring and alert system and state mechanisms, such as the “Human Rights Monitoring Liaison Unit” and “Secure Protection Perimeters: strategic deployment of trained and equipped security forces”;
  • Responding, in the event of an ASAE, to 11 required questions and the requirements for appropriate investigations and judicial proceedings: “the restoration of and access to transitional justice for victims of ESAE” and “the integration of judicial personnel into security operations.”

The GT-ESAE is composed of four teams: Monitoring, Special Investigations and Follow-up; Reporting & Advocacy; Module and Tool Adapters and Trainers; Projects and Mobilization of Financial Support Resources. It involves public communication mechanisms (PIO), treaties and special mechanisms (Special Rapporteurs Prof. Philip Alston);

ESAE reference texts:

  • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Art. 3, UDHR; Rome Statute of the ICC...
  • List of 11 questions to be answered in the event of reported ESAE. Annex and
  • Resolution 1989/65 of the Economic and Social Council of May 24, 1989, on recommended principles for the effective prevention of ESAEs through effective investigations.
  • National Constitution of the DRC, Art. 16, which makes human life sacred, and (b) Penal codes and judicial procedures in force in the DRC.

WG on Arbitrary Arrests and Illegal Detentions/Disappearances

Violations of personal freedom and security are among the most recurrent human rights violations in the DRC. These mainly take the form of arbitrary and/or illegal arrests and detentions. The phenomenon of enforced disappearances also persists throughout the DRC, which has still not signed the International Convention on Enforced Disappearances. The denial by state agents, and more particularly by the national security forces, of the arrest and detention of Congolese citizens who are effectively deprived of the protection of the law is still too frequently observed by the OHCHR. Therefore, through its Task Force on Arbitrary and/or Illegal Arrests and Detentions and Enforced Disappearances, the OHCHR is taking targeted action to reduce the number of such cases and combat the impunity that prevails for these types of violations, the main ones being:

  • regular visits to detention centers, most often in collaboration with the public prosecutor's office, to inquire into the legality of arrests and detentions and make recommendations to the competent authorities for their regularization;
  • investigating allegations of illegal detention centers and advocating with the relevant authorities for their closure;
  • advocating with provincial and national authorities of the PNC and ANR to end arbitrary and/or illegal arrests and detentions and enforced disappearances and to bring the perpetrators to justice;
  • training for judicial police officers and police station chiefs, in collaboration with UNPOL/MONUSCO and the public prosecutor's office, on topics related to the responsibilities of the police in general and the applicable standards for arrest and detention, as well as the rights of arrested persons;
  • advocacy for access to all places of detention.

The Task Force on Arbitrary and/or Illegal Arrests and Detentions and Enforced Disappearances is considering other activities, on the one hand, to raise awareness among the entire population about these rights in relation to this issue and, on the other hand, to involve civil society more closely in reporting these violations.

WG on Torture and Deaths in Detention

The Working Group (WG) on Torture, Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment (CID) and Deaths in Detention is working to develop concrete strategies aimed, on the one hand, at ending impunity for perpetrators of acts of torture and, on the other hand, at significantly reducing the number of deaths in detention, given the overwhelming figures recorded in prisons in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Although the Constitution of the DRC (Art. 62 para. 2), Article 67 para. 2 of the Penal Code, and Article 166 of the Military Penal Code prohibit it, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and torture are widespread in the DRC. Dilapidated cells, lack of food and medical supplies, overcrowding, corruption, inadequate and poorly trained prison staff, and the lack of rehabilitation programs for prisoners are the rule rather than the exception in the Congolese prison system. Lack of food and its consequences are one of the main causes of death in detention. The use of physical violence against detainees is another cause of death or serious injury among prisoners. Cases of sexual violence are also common.

The WG's strategy aims to encourage victims of torture to file complaints so that the alleged perpetrators can be brought to justice. To this end, the WG assists and/or accompanies victims of torture at all stages of the proceedings by providing them with psychological, medical, and legal assistance and, where necessary, by putting in place protective measures to encourage victims to go to court. Strategies are also developed to encourage judges to declare inadmissible any confession, statement, or evidence obtained under torture. Finally, the WG advocates for improved conditions of detention (food, medical care, hygiene, prison decongestion) with a view to reducing the number of deaths in detention.

See the reports on detention conditions for 2004,2005, 2006 Part I and Part II and on malnutrition in prisons.

WG on Economic Rights Violations/Illegal Mining

The Working Group on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources was created in January 2009 in view of the seriousness and scale of violations of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) in the DRC, despite the country's abundant resources, described by several experts as a “true geological scandal.”

On November 1, 1976, the DRC ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which entered into force on February 1, 1977. In Article 2, the ICESCR requires signatory states, individually or through international economic and technical assistance and cooperation, to mobilize all possible resources within their countries to progressively realize economic, social, and cultural rights.

Although ESCR are guaranteed to Congolese citizens by the Constitution, the basic needs of the majority of Congolese people are still far from being met, and respect for the dignity that should result from the recognition and protection of ESCR is far from being achieved. Several of the rights set out in the ICESCR are thus violated on a daily basis, including the right to work, the right to social security, the right to family protection, the right to an adequate standard of living and, more specifically, the right to food, housing, improved living conditions, health, and education.

The structural and infrastructural weakness of the state in enforcing laws and the consequent inefficiency of institutional control mechanisms have led to poor political and economic governance and a parallel economy of looting, which has triggered and sustained not only armed conflicts, but also conferred wealth and power on national and foreign armed groups and other criminal networks, leading to serious human rights violations and widespread impunity. Furthermore, it has further weakened the state's ability to collect taxes and duties, thereby preventing the maximization of state resources and the potential investments that could have resulted.

In this context, the Working Group's objectives are to:

  • Contribute to the promotion and protection of ESCR in the DRC;
  • Contribute to the fight against impunity in the illegal exploitation of natural resources by collecting data on the various actors (state and non-state) involved in such exploitation
  • Publish a summary analysis of the issue of ESCR and the illegal exploitation of natural resources, etc.
  • Contribute to the drafting of a summary document on the issue of Article 2 of the ICESCR on revenue losses suffered by the state;
  • Facilitate the establishment of a coalition of NGOs to advocate with the executive and legislative authorities of the DRC for the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2008;
  • Contribute to the dissemination of information on ESCR in order to raise public awareness of the State's responsibility for the progressive realization of ESCR.
Last updated:
Share