UPR Sexual Rights Database

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 14) JS3 stated that the 2015 Constitution did not include and provide a general prohibition of discrimination and did not guarantee the protection and promotion of the human rights of LGBTI. Discrimination towards LGBTI was observed at the institutional level; there have been cases of harassment perpetuated by police officers and refusal of asylum to asylum seekers on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. JS3 noted that article 127 of the Family Code defines marriage as an act of union established between a man and a woman, and article 56 of the same Code imposes the nullity of any marriage pronounced between two persons of the same sex. According to JS3, Art. 127 of the Family Code and Art. 330 and Art. 331 of the Penal Code are frequently used as a pretext to socially condemn LGBTI persons.

National Report:
Para 35) Since the first UPR, the Congo has been a party to the following international legal instruments: OP-CRC-SC, New York, 25 May 2000 (accession, 25 October 2009).

National Report:
Para 77) Sexual violence is classified as a crime and is punished by article 332 of the Congolese Criminal Code, which punishes the crime of rape. However, certain cases in which the crime has gone unpunished may be attributed to the failure of the victims to lodge a complaint or to the inertia and shortcomings of the judicial system.

Para 78) Efforts to combat the scourge are headed by NGOs, public institutions and United Nations agencies, which utilize extrajudicial means such as:
- The organization of information, education and communication sessions in order to change behaviour;
- The launch of the Zero Tolerance campaign, whose activities will last two years;
- Creation of hostels for the victims of violence;
- Establishment of an observatory for violence control;
- Revision of the legal framework to take into account legal issues affecting women (Criminal Code, Tax Code, Family Code, etc.).

Para 82) Female genital mutilation is prohibited in the Congo by article 62 of Act No. 4-2010 of 14 June 2010 on the protection of children in the Republic of the Congo. Campaigns to raise awareness about such practices are organized as part of the effort to combat sexual violence.

National Report:
Para 75) Currently, there is no provision under domestic legislation to define discrimination against women. However, the lack of a legal definition notwithstanding, efforts are being made to ensure that women are equal as regards ownership of property, access to employment and political activity. Women may own land through matrilineal or patrilineal filiation, through inheritance or by marriage.

Para 77) Sexual violence is classified as a crime and is punished by article 332 of the Congolese Criminal Code, which punishes the crime of rape. However, certain cases in which the crime has gone unpunished may be attributed to the failure of the victims to lodge a complaint or to the inertia and shortcomings of the judicial system.

Para 78) Efforts to combat the scourge are headed by NGOs, public institutions and United Nations agencies, which utilize extrajudicial means such as:
- The organization of information, education and communication sessions in order to change behaviour;
- The launch of the Zero Tolerance campaign, whose activities will last two years;
- Creation of hostels for the victims of violence;
- Establishment of an observatory for violence control;
- Revision of the legal framework to take into account legal issues affecting women (Criminal Code, Tax Code, Family Code, etc.).

National Report:
Para 22) The national system for protecting and promoting human rights is not limited to the National Human Rights Commission but also includes other national bodies, for example … bodies newly established under the Constitution of 25 October 2015, such as: … • The Women’s Advisory Council, tasked with issuing advice on the situation of women and offering the Government suggestions for promoting women’s participation in the country’s development.
Para 23) The following institutional acts have been adopted to supplement this legal framework: … Organic Act No. 14-2018 of 15 March 2018 on the organization, membership and functioning of the Women’s Advisory Council.
Para 49) The Congo has signed a United Nations Development Assistance Framework for the period 2014–2018. On 4 March 2016, the Ministry for the Advancement of Women and the Integration of Women in Development entered into an agreement with UNDP on an annual workplan for a project to support gender, female leadership and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Para 51) Overall, many activities have been conducted to promote and protect women’s rights. They include an information, education and communication campaign on the growth of the teenage pregnancy rate, which took place on 22 July 2015 in Pool department and from 5 to 8 August 2015 in Sangha department. In addition, a meeting on reviving the National Observatory on Gender-based Violence was held in Brazzaville on 9 September.
Para 52) Since 2014, the Congo has increased the participation of women in political and public life and strengthened their representation in decision-making bodies.
Para 53) The Congolese Constitution of 25 October 2015 guarantees the principle of parity and affirms that women and men have equal rights. Women’s advancement and representation in all political, elective and administrative posts are guaranteed by law. These principles have been incorporated into the Electoral Act.
Para 54) The new article 61 of the Electoral Act stipulates that “women must constitute at least 30 per cent of candidates put forward for election to the National Assembly and the Senate”.
Para 55) The representation of women in decision-making bodies currently stands at 11.5 per cent in the National Assembly, 22.9 per cent in the Senate, 22.85 per cent in the Government, 12 per cent in decision-making positions in the ministries, 18.82 per cent in departmental councils, 23.5 per cent in municipal councils and 20 per cent in the Supreme Court.
Para 56) According to the most recent civil service personnel audit, women make up 49.5 per cent of public sector workers.
Para 57) Under the 2012–2016 National Development Plan, activities have been conducted throughout the Congo to support farming and market gardening partnerships and hairdressing and sewing training centres for women. Many measures have been introduced across the country to support income-generating activities, which serve to empower women. They include the distribution of hairdressing and sewing kits, agricultural processing equipment, mechanical equipment and motor vehicles. Between 2012 and 2017, 3,186 such items were distributed, including 1,692 sewing kits, 780 hairdressing kits, 40 units of agricultural processing equipment, 152 market gardening kits, 40 units of household equipment, 23 units of mechanical and motorized equipment and 459 Kavaki motor vehicles.
Para 64) This legislative framework and regular activities to support women are the tools with which the Congo is working to improve women’s lives, allow them to thrive and guarantee respect for their fundamental rights.
Para 105) According to the second Congolese National Household Survey on Poverty, the unemployment rate in the Congo is 6.9 per cent, with some disparities between men and women. … Among persons with disabilities, the rate is 19.85 per cent for men and 9.54 per cent for women, according to the 2017 General Population and Housing Census.
Para 136) Human rights organizations expect, and indeed demand, the immediate adoption of legislation on the prohibition of torture, the abolition of the death penalty and the effective attainment of gender parity. They consider that, even within the Government itself, women are not only underrepresented but also still lack access to certain positions and privileges, such as: • Posts in the core ministries of the State • The position of cabinet minister.
Para 137) No woman has ever been promoted to the rank of general in the armed forces nor held the top position in any of the constitutional institutions. Human rights organizations consider this to be a violation of the CEDAW.

UN Compilation:
Para 10) The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) noted that a new Constitution had been promulgated on 6 November 2015. It had been adopted by referendum on 25 October 2015. This text … establishes the equality of men and women before the law.

National Report:
Para 16) The Government shifted the paradigm of policy on women to gender mainstreaming, aiming at achieving gender equality by more effective use of the policies that had been in place, including Gender Impact Analysis and Assessment, Gender Budget and Gender Statistics. The Committee on Gender Equality has been tasked with duties including coordination, cooperation, and execution of policies on gender equality by central government and local government. A new obligation on the ODA to make efforts to encourage equal participation of both genders and to develop measures to ensure gender equality in the programs was introduced.
Para 42) To ensure non-discrimination against women and achieve gender equality, the Government wholly revised the Framework Act on Women’s Development into the Framework Act on Gender Equality. The paradigm of the policies on women shifted from women’s development to the actual gender equality. All Government agencies are now responsible for taking up measures for gender mainstreaming in the course of performing their duties. The revised Act newly stipulates provisions concerning the Gender Impact Analysis and Assessment, Gender Budgeting, Gender Statistics, Education on Gender Sensitivity, and developing and announcing the Gender Equality Index. The national gender equality index is composed of eight categories and 23 indices, including economic activity, decision making, education and career training, welfare, health care, safety, family, and culture and information.
Para 44) In order to address the inequality of women in employment and labour market, the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act stipulates the principle of equal pay for equal work, the violation of which is subject to criminal punishment. Various policies have been put in place to enable work-family balance and prevent women’s career break, such as childcare leave, part-time job, flexible work arrangements, and the establishment of infrastructure for telecommuting and ubiquitous working. Childcare leave was expanded in 2014 to allow the parents with children under the age 8 or grade 2 to take the leave up to one year. In order to promote paternity leave, the Government introduced a Father’s Month program since 2014. If both parents take the childcare leave successively for the same child, the childcare benefit for the second parent is raised to 100% of their ordinary monthly wage up to KRW 1.5 million for the first month of childcare leave.

UN Compilation:
Para 53) The HR Committee was concerned about discrimination against women and about the small proportion of women in decision-making positions, the high rate of women in irregular employment and the high wage gap between men and women.
Para 54) The Working Group on business and human rights noted that women reportedly left the labour force at a high rate when they married or had children and found it difficult to reenter the workforce after a career break. ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations welcomed the measures taken by the Government to reconcile work and family responsibilities as a means of improving women’s participation in employment and requested the Government to continue its efforts.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 9) NHRCK reported on the under-representation of women in the labour market. Women often had to take up low paid non regular jobs. Balancing work and family life remained difficult largely due to the lack of decent public day care facilities and the low use of paternity leaves. The Government has made some efforts to increase employment rates of women and younger people, but those efforts had limited effect in the last three years.
Para 72) JS2 reported on discrimination against women and on the gender wage gap. Additionally, about 53 percent of women employees were in non-regular jobs.