Protests systematically banned; HRD judicially harassed

General

Majority MP detained after criticising the government

On 23rd March 2024, majority MP Aimé Hydevert Mouagni, who is a member of parliament for the Club Perspectives et Réalités (CPR) was arrested and subsequently detained at the Central Intelligence and Documentation Office (Centrale d'intelligence et de la documentation - CID), the former Directorate General of Territorial Surveillance (Direction générale de la surveillance du territoire - DGST). He has been charged with disseminating and spreading news likely to undermine national security and defence and to undermine public morale; defamation and spreading false news likely to disturb public peace or harm the national interest or undermine public morale; and illegal possession of weapons and munitions of war. Aimé Hydevert Mouagni strongly criticized the management of the country, in particular the misappropriation of public funds and the non-payment of emoluments owed to members of parliament. He also points the finger at the lack of security in the country's major cities, clearly singling out the Minister of the Interior and the security services for their failure to eradicate the problem. He appeared before the investigating committee of the High Court of Justice on 29th May 2024.

Cases of torture increased in 2024

In a report launched on 26th June 2024, the Centre for Actions for Development (Centre d'actions pour le développement, CAD) noted a sharp rise in torture and other serious human rights violations in the Republic of the Congo in 2024. Monitoring localities in five of the country’s 12 departments (Sangha, Niari, Plateaux, Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville), CAD documented 122 cases of torture and other instances of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the first six months of 2024, up from 13 cases over the same period in 2023. A similar comparison of cases of arbitrary arrest and detention showed an even sharper increase (31 to 251). Cases of summary execution rose from three to five, and cases of torture resulting in death increased from two to five. The number of demonstrations and meetings repressed grew fivefold from two to ten. According to the report, the documented abuses were mainly perpetrated by state actors and the victims are women, minors, the elderly and young people, most of whom come from low-income families.

UN Mechanisms

Ahead of the Congo Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council on 30th January 2024, civil society organisations made various submissions pertaining to civic space. The head of the Congolese delegation acknowledged the persistent human rights challenges facing the Congo, particularly in terms of access to justice, prison conditions and the protection of vulnerable groups.

On 2nd February 2024, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued its concluding observations on the State’s reports on the situation of children’s rights in the Congo. In addition of expressing concern regarding violations, it noted “the difficulties faced by non-governmental organizations in obtaining legal status, including those working on children’s rights, which in turn limits their ability to carry out their work”.

On 26th April 2024, the Congolese authorities deposited the instrument of accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to the Secretary General of the United Nations. This Protocol allows for visits by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This accession was supported by a joint advocacy effort involving several human rights organisations, including ACAT Congo and FIACAT.

Opposition and civil society denounce deterioration of economic and health situation

In a joint statement, the member parties of the Collectif de l'opposition au Congo denounce a state of chaos and bankruptcy in the country, citing for example the salary arrears of the Ouesso town hall workers that go back 120 months, or 10 years (see below, Assembly) and point the finger at the mismanagement of those in power. Congo’s Human Development Index value in 2022 positioned the country at 149 out of 193 countries.

On 24th April 2024, the Congolese NGO Publiez ce que vous payez (Publish What You Pay) published its 8th report on the implementation of public investment projects in the health sector for financial years 2020, 2021 and 2022. It condemned the poor execution of projects, estimating that between 2020 and 2023, only 2% of the 245 million euros (160 billion CFA francs) authorised to be paid for projects designed to improve access to healthcare had been implemented and denounced the opacity surrounding the management of the funds. Before publication, the NGO submitted a draft of the report to the government, but it did not react.

Land transfer to Rwanda remains controversial

On 18th May 2022, the Congolese Government concluded agreements with the Rwandan Government for the transfer of approximately 12,000 hectares of land to Eleveco-Congo SAS for the implementation of an agro-pastoral project for a period of 20 years. Congolese opponents speak of a lack of transparency in these land transfer agreements, and others denounced these agreements as a violation of national sovereignty.

On 24th August 2024, in Brazzaville, the Citizens’ Coalition against Economic and Financial Crime in the Congo asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs to expel the Rwandan ambassador, Théoneste Mutsindashyaka, for interfering in the internal affairs of the Congo. The group of non-governmental organisations disapproves of the remarks made on 11th July 2024 by the Rwandan diplomat regarding the transfer of land in Rwanda. “The controversy surrounding this agreement was created, fuelled and maintained by political groups”, the ambassador was quoted as saying, and had promised to “educate the Congolese people”. The Coalition citoyenne contre les crimes économiques et financiers au Congo condemned these remarks, which “insult the intelligence of the Congolese people” and cause moral damage to the Congolese people.

EXPRESSION

Judicial harassment of HRD

On 13th May 2024, METSSA Congo, a subsidiary of a group based in Dubai, lodged a direct summons with the Second Criminal Division of the Pointe-Noire Regional Court against Cyrille Ndembi, the President of a collective of residents in Vindoulou that has been denouncing the health impact of the recycling plant.

METSSA Congo SARL is a factory that produces and recycles non-ferrous metals and plastics from various types of products, including lead batteries and used tyres. The factory is located in a densely populated area less than 50m from a school and it emits smoke and dust, according to a June 2024 report on the impact of recycling industries in the Congo produced by Amnesty International.

Since 2019, a collective of residents has taken various initiatives to defend their right to a healthy environment: they sent letters to the Directorate of the Environment, hired a lawyer in March 2023 and took blood samples, which were analysed by various laboratories. On 3rd April 2024, the Pointe-Noire administrative court ordered the temporary suspension of the activities of METSSA Congo, on the grounds that the pollution had been proven (by 22nd May 2024, the company was still refusing to comply with the court order).

On 7th May 2024, Mr Cyrille Ndembi appeared on the online medium Ziana TV and denounced the impact of the company’s activities on the health of the residents of Vindoulou. Mr Ndembi has subsequently been summoned to appear in court on 23rd May 2024. The charges laid by METSSA Congo against Mr Ndembi relate to the “dissemination on social networks of information that has damaged the honour of METSSA Congo”.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), denounced the judicial harassment of Mr Cyrille Ndembi “which seems aimed solely at intimidating and dissuading it from carrying out its legitimate activities in defence of the right to a healthy environment and the right to health”.

PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY

Demonstrations are systematically banned, according to NGOs

According to the June report of the Centre d'actions pour le développement (CAD), a local human rights NGO, ten demonstrations and/or meetings were repressed, sometimes violently, in 2024 and at least four individuals were arrested for asserting their right to freedom of expression. According to several human rights NGOs, the Prefecture of Brazzaville never issues authorisations for marches, except when they aim to support the government.

The Centre d'actions pour le développement indicates that demonstrations are systematically banned for invalid reasons and in defiance of democratic standards. It therefore called on the authorities to abolish the system of prior authorisation imposed on peaceful gatherings by Ordinance 62-28 of 23rd October 1962.

Protesters detained

On 26th July 2024, the Collectif des Jeunes du Congo et de la Diaspora (CJCD) organised a peaceful march in Brazzaville to demand that the government take strong measures to curb unemployment, that the promises in the Head of State’s address on the Year of the Youth be respected and that the Congolese government be dismissed for incompetence. Three activists, Cédric Castellin Balou, Melvin Louwamou and René Manaka were arrested by security forces and brought to the Territorial Brigade of the Gendarmerie. They were detained for 72 hours and then released without charge.

Protest to demand the release of detained “Black babies”

On 12th June 2024, a crowd of about 50 people, including mothers, gathered with pots and pans in front of the home of the public prosecutor André Oko Ngakala to demand the release of the detained “Black babies”. "Black babies" is a term used to describe young people between the ages of 13 and 25, most often idle and out of school, armed with knives and looting, committing rape, murder and assaults on the population.

The demonstrators demanded the release of their children held in custody at a centre in Texaco la Tsiémé.

In February 2024, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child had expressed its serious concern about reports indicatung that children, predominantly in street situations, are subjected to threats, arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment subsequent to their deprivation of liberty.

Strikes for unpaid wages

Between 8th June 2024 and 20th July 2024, lecturers and workers at the Marien Ngouabi University, the largest in Congo-Brazzaville, followed the strike action called by three trade unions to demand the payment of salary arrears. After numerous discussions with the government, the trade union obtained payment of the teachers’ salaries for April and May 2024.

On 13th September 2024, garbage collectors stopped working in Brazzaville as they had not been paid for three months. The company they are working for, Averda, is still awaiting funds from the government. The workers were still striking as of 18th September 2024.

Since 1st October 2024, lecturers and workers at Brazzaville’s Marien-Ngouabi University have been on an unlimited general strike, again demanding payment of salary arrears. The inter-union group behind the strike is critical of the government’s indifference to the university's difficulties and vowed not to lift the strike until all salaries and hours owed since 2018 have been paid.