Human Trafficking in [DRC] [other countries]Street Children in [DRC] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [DRC] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a source country for
men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual
exploitation. The majority of known trafficking occurs within the country's
unstable eastern provinces, by armed groups outside government control.
Indigenous and foreign armed groups, notably the FDLR (Rwandan Hutus),
continue to abduct and forcibly recruit Congolese men, women, and children to
serve as laborers (including in mines), porters, domestics, combatants, and
sex slaves, although at a much reduced rate from previous years. In 2006 and
early 2007, troops loyal to a renegade Congolese general reportedly recruited
an unknown number of Congolese children for soldiering from refugee camps in
Rwanda. There were reports of Congolese children prostituted in brothels or
by loosely organized networks, some of whom were exploited by Congolese
national army (FARDC) forces. An unknown number of unlicensed miners remain
in debt bondage to dealers for tools, food, and supplies. Congolese women and
children are reportedly trafficked to South Africa for sexual exploitation. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2007 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Survivors'
Rights International - Press Release: June 2, 2004 EQUATEUR PROVINCE: Eyewitnesses reports from different parts of Equateur indicate both transient soldiers and resident DRC government FAC (Forces Armee Congolaise) soldiers looting and destroying property; confiscating and occupying homes and schools; conscripting and brutalizing males for forced labor; raping women and girls; and abducting women and girls for prolonged periods of sexual slavery. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs CURRENT
GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - The Ministry of Family Affairs and Labor began to implement
an action plan against sexual exploitation of persons, and the Government has
attended regional meetings on trafficking and sought to coordinate with
neighboring governments to address the problem. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – There
was no information available on reports from late 2004 that persons were
recruiting children in Internal trafficking for forced
labor and forced sexual exploitation occurred and child prostitution were
reported. The majority of reported trafficking occurred in the northeast and
east. In eastern parts of the country,
armed groups operating outside government control continued to kidnap men,
women, and children and force them to provide menial labor and sexual
services for members of armed groups
In addition armed groups abducted children to serve as combatants in
areas under their control. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2006 [DOC] [79] While noting with appreciation the ratification by
the State party of relevant ILO Conventions, as well as the adoption of an
appropriate legislative framework, the Committee is concerned at the lack of
data on the issue of economic exploitation of children. The Committee is also
concerned at information according to which children, in particular
indigenous children, are exploited economically. Finally, the Committee is
concerned at reports that children, in particular from the Democratic
Republic of Congo and indigenous children, are recruited to clean sewers and
latrines manually, which is extremely hazardous to their health. [83] While noting that the State party has ratified the
Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation
of the Prostitution of Others on 25 August 1977, the Committee is
concerned at the absence of legislation prohibiting trafficking in persons,
particularly children. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2001 [68] The Committee is deeply
concerned by information, including for example in the State party's report,
of the trading, trafficking, kidnapping and use for pornography of young
girls and boys within the State party, or from the State party to another
country, and that domestic legislation does not sufficiently protect children
from trafficking. Survivors'
Rights International - Press Release: June 2, 2004 EQUATEUR PROVINCE: Eyewitnesses reports from different parts of Equateur indicate both transient soldiers and resident DRC government FAC (Forces Armee Congolaise) soldiers looting and destroying property; confiscating and occupying homes and schools; conscripting and brutalizing males for forced labor; raping women and girls; and abducting women and girls for prolonged periods of sexual slavery. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 6 Status: Not Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress - Country Study Congo
‘pygmies’ suffer daily atrocities The Rainforest Foundation is
urgently calling for justice, and recognition of the rights of the 'Pygmy'
people, with the release of a report exposing alarming human rights
violations suffered by 'Pygmies' in the Republic of Congo. Beatings, rape, 'slavery' and
discrimination were documented in the report based on investigations by our
partners, the Congolese Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH). The report,
published by the Rainforest Foundation, reveals cases of collective rapes,
police brutality, and appalling health, housing and education systems. Very
few 'Pygmies' have basic civil rights and most lack national identity cards. The
Situation of the Pygmies in the Republic of Congo [PDF] [pages 19 & 20] 4.4. WORKING CONDITIONS THAT RESEMBLE
MODERN SLAVERY – The
work the Pygmies carry out for the Bantu in Ngoua II resembles forced labour.
They put a great deal of effort into what is hard and often badly paid work.
A day's work on a Bantu farm pays between 500 and 1,000 F.CFA, (50p to £1),
according to the employer's whim. No consideration is made of the effort
made. On 30 June 2003, OCDH members
traveled with a Pygmy, Mr. Ingouma, who had been requisitioned by a Bantu to
carry a sack of groundnuts weighing over 80 kgs a distance of more than 50
kms from Ngoua II. In return, the Bantu gave him a bottle of palm wine valued
at 250 F.CFA (25p). Like the Bantu, the Pygmies who
work at Man Fai Tai, the main logging company in the area, confirm that they
are treated 'like slaves' by the Malaysians who run the company The Pygmies of Kabo regularly
incur debts with the Bantu. And, by lending them money, these Bantu are
creating the conditions that force the Pygmies into coming back for another
loan. The practice thus becomes entrenched and is, in fact, a form of
'debtslavery' for the salaried Pygmies. At the end of the month, unable to
read or write, they have to pay off amounts established according to the word
of their Bantu creditors. When they cannot pay all their debts, these
creditors take them to courts that issue orders to stop and seize the debtor
Pygmies' salaries. Preventing the
Use of Child Soldiers: the Role of the International Criminal Court THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE
CONGO - It has been
reported by UNICEF that as many as one-third of the DRC’s children have been
forced to take up arms. According to the United Nations, the armed
forces using child soldiers within the DRC are: the DRC Government
Forces (FAC), the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), the Congolese Rally
for Democracy (RCD), the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD)-National, the
Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD)-ML, Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC),
Lendu Militias, Patrick Masunzu’s forces, Ex-FAR/Interahamwe, and Mai Mai
militias. Congo,
Democratic Republic of the (Drc) GOVERNMENT FORCES - The Congolese Armed Forces
(FAC) continued to have children in their ranks despite commitments to
demobilization. "We were told to kill people
by forcing them to stay in their homes while we burned them down," says
15-year-old Kalami, a six-year veteran serving in one of the armed groups in
the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. "One day, my friends and I
were forced by our commanders to kill a family, to cut up their bodies... My
life is lost. I have nothing to live for." I met Manja just after he had
walked in alone out of the rain. He carried nothing with him but a sleeveless
nylon jacket and his memories. Sham
demobilisation hides rise in Congo's child armies Armed groups in the Democratic
Republic of Congo have stepped up their recruitment of child soldiers in
expectation of the civil war continuing despite the peace accord, Amnesty
International says. Boys and girls as
young as eight are being mobilised in their thousands to murder and plunder
-undermining the hope that after five years the conflict is winding down, its
report, Children at War, says. The
Use of Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo President Kabila of the Democratic
Republic of Congo has used child soldiers to support his military since 1996.
As the rebel leader of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation
of Congo (ADFL), he recruited thousands of young child soldiers, known as
"Kadogo," or "the little ones," to support his military
campaign against the Mobutu government. Despite pledges from the Congolese
government to demobilize children from the FAC since the end of the 1996-1997
war and the establishment of several fledgling demobilization programs, the
Kabila government has continued to recruit children as young as seven years
old for military service. While no reliable statistics were available
regarding the number of child soldiers, the total number is likely to be at
least several thousand. In a new report released today
Amnesty International (AI) criticized demobilization of child soldiers in
eastern Congo as timid and ineffective, claiming that among certain rebel
groups demobilization is merely a public relations ploy that often ends in
the re-recruitment of those recently demobilized. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
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Human Trafficking in [DRC] [other countries]Street Children in [DRC] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [DRC] [other countries]