Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Democratic Republic of the Congo (Ratification: 1960)

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Forced labour and sexual slavery in the context of the armed conflict. The Committee previously urged the Government to step up its efforts to put an end to the sexual violence committed against civilians, particularly women who are subjected to sexual exploitation, and to take immediate measures to ensure that appropriate criminal penalties are imposed on persons responsible for sexual slavery and forced labour.

The Government indicates in its report that it has duly noted the Committee’s comments and that urgent measures are being adopted to put an end to these serious violations. The Government refers in particular to the introduction of a new Disarmament, Demobilization, Community Recovery and Stabilization Programme (P-DDRC-S) in 2021, and the adoption of a national strategy for this programme on 4 April 2022. The Government reports a decrease in killings of civilians and in insecurity, as well as the demobilization of combatants.

The Committee also notes the report of 4 March 2019 of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the context of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, in which the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office noted that most armed groups used women and children in hostilities or as sex slaves and/or subjected them to forced marriage or forced labour. Women and children were also abducted, including for sexual purposes. Sexual violence was then used as a tactic of war, perpetrated in a systematic and particularly brutal manner (A/HRC/WG.6/33/COD/2, paragraph 45).

The Committee also notes that the United Nations Secretary-General, in his report of 29 March 2022 on conflict-related sexual violence, highlighted the fact that in 2021 the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) documented 1,016 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, perpetrated by armed groups and state actors. The Secretary-General refers to cases of sexual violence committed in the context of forced marriage or sexual slavery by the armed group Union des patriotes pour la défense des citoyens. He emphasizes that progress was made in combating impunity, and that in 2021 military courts convicted 118 members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), 28 members of the Congolese National Police and 10 members of armed groups for conflict-related sexual violence (S/2022/272, paragraphs 27–29). The Committee also notes that the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), in its concluding observations of 28 March 2022, expressed concern that although the country had decided to implement transitional justice mechanisms to address the serious human rights violations committed in the past, in particular sexual violence, these serious violations continue to be committed with impunity (E/C.12/COD/CO/6, paragraph 6).

The Committee is bound to express its concern at the persistent use of sexual slavery and forced labour of women in the context of armed conflict. While recognizing the complexity of the situation prevailing in the country and the presence of armed groups, the Committee urges the Government to intensify its efforts to put an end to the sexual slavery and forced labour of which civilians are victims in the context of armed conflict and to forestall and prevent these serious violations of the Convention. The Committee urges the Government to continue taking measures to combat impunity, by providing the competent bodies with the resources to conduct the necessary investigations, prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes and ensure that the victims of such acts are fully protected and obtain compensation. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on progress made in this respect.

Article 25. Criminal penalties. In reply to the Committee’s request concerning the adoption of adequate legislative provisions enabling effective and dissuasive criminal penalties to be imposed in practice on persons exacting forced labour, the Government indicates that the Bill putting an end to forced labour, which provides for more effective criminal penalties, is still awaiting adoption by Parliament. Recalling that it is crucial that the law establishes appropriate criminal penalties to punish persons responsible for all forms of forced labour, the Committee urges the Government to take effective measures in this regard in the context of the Bill putting an end to forced labour. The Committee trusts that this Bill will be adopted in the very near future, that it will establish criminal penalties which constitute an adequate deterrent and are proportional to the seriousness of the crime, and that it will be the subject of an extensive dissemination and awareness-raising campaign by the competent authorities. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on progress made in this regard and to send a copy of the Bill once it has been enacted.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.