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

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. In reply to the Committee’s request concerning measures taken to combat trafficking in persons, including through the adoption of legislative provisions, the Government refers in its report to the adoption of Ordinance No. 19-027 of 22 April 2019 instituting the Agency for the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons and establishing its structure and operation. The Government indicates that the objective of the Agency is to prevent and combat the practice of trafficking in persons and to raise awareness about it. The Committee notes that this Act defines trafficking in persons for the purposes of exploitation and provides that the Agency shall be competent for identifying and reporting the perpetrators of trafficking in persons, ensuring that they are prosecuted, protecting victims and participating in the formulation of public policy in this area. The Agency has to draw up an annual report on the current situation of trafficking in the country and to devise a national action plan against trafficking in persons.

The Committee also notes that according to the International Organization for Migration Global Report 2020: Operations and Emergencies, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is experiencing one of the most complex and long-lasting humanitarian crises in the world. With 5.2 million displaced persons, the DRC has the second largest number of displaced persons inside their own country. The Committee further notes that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in its concluding observations of 6 August 2019, noted with concern that the perpetrators of trafficking for the purposes of forced prostitution are neither prosecuted or convicted (CEDAW/C/COD/CO/8, paragraph 28).

While noting the Government’s efforts to combat trafficking in persons, the Committee encourages the Government to intensify its action in this sphere. Observing that a Bill on trafficking is under discussion in Parliament, the Committee hopes that the Government will take the necessary steps to adopt this law so as to provide the country with legislation that makes trafficking, for both labour exploitation and sexual exploitation, a criminal offence and establishes appropriate criminal penalties. The Committee requests the Government to take steps to raise the awareness of competent bodies and reinforce their capacities in order to achieve better knowledge and identification of cases of trafficking in persons and thorough investigations to enable the prosecution and conviction of perpetrators. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on: (i) the activities carried out by the Agency for the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons; (ii) the measures taken to raise awareness of the risk of trafficking, particularly of displaced persons in the country; (iii) the measures taken to provide protection and assistance for victims of trafficking; and (iv) the adoption and implementation of an action plan in this sphere and the preparation of annual reports on the current situation of trafficking in the country.

Articles 1(1) and 2(1). Vulnerability of Pygmies to the imposition of forced labour. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to indicate the measures taken to combat the social marginalization of Pygmies and to prevent their situation of vulnerability resulting in them becoming victims of forced labour. The Government indicates that a Bill for the protection and promotion of the rights of indigenous Pygmy peoples in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was adopted by the National Assembly on 7 April 2021 and that it will send the Committee a copy of the law once it has been promulgated and published in the Official Journal.

The Committee also notes that the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), in its concluding observations of 28 March 2022, expressed concern at the fact that the Batwa indigenous peoples continue to face persistent discrimination and exclusion that have an adverse effect on the effective enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights, and at the lack of effective measures to combat the de facto discrimination that they face (E/C.12/COD/CO/6, paragraphs 14 and 26).

The Committee welcomes the adoption of the Bill for the protection and promotion of the rights of indigenous Pygmy peoples in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the National Assembly, and trusts that once this law has been promulgated, it will enable action against the discrimination experienced by the indigenous Pygmy peoples and will enable their effective enjoyment of their rights and thereby reduce the risks of them becoming victims of exploitation tantamount to forced labour. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on progress made in this regard and also refers the Government to its comments made in relation to the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111).

2. Repeal of legislation. Exaction of work for national development purposes, as a means of collecting unpaid taxes, from persons in pre-trial detention, and in cases of vagrancy. For many years the Committee has been asking the Government to formally repeal or amend the following legislative texts and regulations, which are contrary to the Convention:

• –Act No. 76-011 of 21 May 1976 on national development and its implementing order, Departmental Order No. 00748/BCE/AGRI/76 of 11 June 1976 on the performance of civic tasks in the context of the National Food Production Programme: these legal texts, which aim to increase productivity in all sectors of national life, require, subject to criminal penalties, all able-bodied adult persons who are not already considered to be making their contribution by reason of their employment to carry out agricultural and other development work, as decided by the Government;
• –Legislative Ordinance No. 71/087 of 14 September 1971 on the minimum personal contribution, of which sections 18–21 provide for imprisonment involving compulsory labour, upon decision of the chief of the local community or the area commissioner, of taxpayers who have defaulted on their minimum personal contributions;
• –Ordinance No. 15/APAJ of 20 January 1938 on the prison system in indigenous districts, which allows work to be exacted from persons in pre-trial detention;
• –the Decree on vagrancy and begging of 23 May 1896, under which persons found engaging in vagrancy or begging may be imprisoned and be subjected to compulsory labour in the public interest.

The Government indicates that it duly notes the Committee’s comments concerning the formal repeal of these items of legislation dating from the colonial period and that it will provide information in due course on the measures taken. It adds that the Bill putting an end to forced labour, which is still awaiting adoption by the Parliament, will have an impact, once it is promulgated, on the repeal of: (i) Act No. 76-011 of 21 May 1976; (ii) Departmental Order No. 00748/BCE/AGRI/76 of 11 June 1976; and (iii) Ordinance No. 15/APAJ of 20 January 1938. The Committee duly notes this information and hopes that the Bill putting an end to forced labour will be actually adopted and that on this occasion Act No. 76-011 of 21 May 1976, Departmental Order No. 00748/BCE/AGRI/76 of 11 June 1976, Ordinance No. 15/APAJ of 20 January 1938 and also Legislative Ordinance No. 71/087 of 14 September 1971 and the Decree on vagrancy and begging of 23 May 1896 will be formally repealed in order to ensure full conformity with the Convention.