Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Democratic Republic of the Congo (Ratification: 2001)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Sentences of imprisonment involving compulsory labour imposed as a penalty for holding or expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system. In its previous comments, the Committee urged the Government to amend or repeal certain provisions of the national legislation under which penalties may be imposed (sentences of penal servitude) involving compulsory prison labour under the circumstances covered by Article 1(a) of the Convention. The provisions in question are the following:

• Penal Code, sections 74, 75 and 77: slanderous allegations and insults; sections 136 and 137: contempt towards members of the National Assembly, the Government and custodians of authority or law enforcement officers; section 199 bis and ter: dissemination of false rumours liable to alarm the population; section 209: dissemination of tracts, bulletins or leaflets of foreign origin or inspiration liable to harm national interests; section 211: display in public places of objects or images liable to disturb public order and the dissemination or reproduction of false news;
• Legislative Ordinance No. 25-557 of 6 November 1959 on penalties to be imposed for infringements of general measures; and
• Legislative Ordinances Nos 300 and 301 of 16 December 1963 on the punishment of offences against the Head of State and foreign Heads of State.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that, since December 2018, several measures have been adopted allowing all political movements and civil society to express their views peacefully, even when such views are ideologically opposed to the established system. The Government adds that the above provisions of the Penal Code only refer to sentences of penal servitude and/or fines. The Committee is therefore bound once again to emphasize that, under the terms of section 8 of the Penal Code, sentences of penal servitude involve the requirement to perform work. It recalls that Article 1(a) of the Convention prohibits the imposition of sentences of compulsory labour, including compulsory prison labour as a result of a sentence of penal servitude, as is the case in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on persons for expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system.

The Government also indicates that Legislative Ordinance No. 23/009, of 13 March 2023, determining the arrangements for the exercise of freedom of the press, freedom of information and broadcasting by radio and television, the printed press and any other means of communication, replaces and repeals Act No. 96-002 of 22 June 1996 determining the arrangements for the exercise of freedom of the press. In this regard, the Committee notes with regret that the new legislative text still refers to the penal legislation in relation in particular to offences relating to the online press (section 113). The Committee also notes that sections 120 and 123 refer to the national legislation, including the Penal Code, in the event of the dissemination or publication in bad faith of false news that has disturbed public order. Section 123 specifies that such acts shall be punished in accordance with the Code of Military Justice where they have eroded the discipline or morale of the armed forces. Moreover, section 124 refers to the penalties set out in the Penal Code in the event of offences committed against magistrates, public officials or agents exercising public authority.

The Government also refers to the adoption of Act No. 23/027 of 15 June 2023 on the protection and responsibilities of human rights defenders. The Committee notes that sections 27 and 28 of the Act provide for the possibility of imposing a sentence of penal servitude (involving compulsory labour) on human rights defenders who are in violation of the duties placed upon them and divulge defamatory, insulting or slanderous information.

The Committee notes that the United Nations High Commissioners for Human Rights, in his update of 30 March 2023, expressed deep concern at the persistence of restrictions on public freedoms and the civic space of the Congolese people. He referred to systematic efforts to prevent journalists and civil society actors from investigating allegations involving the security forces, particularly in conflict areas. He also referred to the harassment and arbitrary arrest of journalists and human rights defenders by the National Information Agency, indicating that 27 persons were in prolonged arbitrary detention without respect for due process. Moreover, in a resolution of 7 February 2025 on the situation of human rights in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations Human Rights Council strongly deplored the reported killings, attacks, arbitrary detention of and acts of intimidation and retaliation against, among others, human rights defenders, journalists and other media workers, lawyers and other civil society actors (A/HRC/RES/S-37/1). The Committee notes that, in their press releases of 19 February and 5 March 2025, the United Nations Security Council and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders expressed concern at the deterioration of the situation in the East of the country, where conflict has intensified and human rights defenders are at extreme risk of reprisals, detention and forced disappearances by the armed group M23.

The Committee once again expresses concern at the current human rights situation in the country and recalls that restrictions on public freedoms can have an impact on the application of the Convention if the implementation of these restrictions is accompanied by penalties involving compulsory labour. While recognizing the difficult situation prevailing in the country, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that no penalty involving compulsory labour, including in the context of the sentence of penal servitude, can be imposed in law or practice on persons who peacefully express political views or views ideologically opposed to the established order. It once again requests the Government to review the above provisions of the Penal Code, Legislative Ordinance No. 25-557 of 6 November 1959 and Legislative Ordinances Nos 300 and 301 of 16 December 1963, for example by restricting their scope of application to situations involving recourse to violence or by suppressing the penalties involving compulsory labour. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of the above sections of Legislative Ordinance No. 23/009 on the press and Act No. 23/027 on human rights defenders, with an indication of whether the offences prosecuted under these provisions gave rise to penal sanctions and, if so, to specify the offences that led to the convictions and the penalties applied.

Article 1(d). Sentences of imprisonment involving compulsory labour as a punishment for participating in strikes. For a number of years, the Committee has been requesting the Government to amend section 326 of the Labour Code, under which any person who is in breach of section 315 of the Labour Code determining the conditions governing the right to the collective stoppage of work is liable to a sentence of penal servitude (involving compulsory labour).

The Government indicates that the examination of section 326 of the Labour Code will be submitted to the next session of the National Labour Council with a view to adopting a decision on the Committee’s comments. The Government specifies that it will insist that no sentence involving compulsory labour can be applied to workers who have participated in a strike peacefully. The Committee notes this information. With reference to its 2024 commentson the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the Committee trusts that the Government will not fail to take the necessary measures without delay to amend section 326 of the Labour Code so that persons who peacefully participate in a strike cannot be subject to a sentence involving compulsory labour, in accordance with the Convention. Please provide information on the progress achieved in this regard, particularly within the framework of the National Labour Council.