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Title: Zaire Human Rights Practices, 1995
Author: U.S. Department of State
Date: March 1996
ZAIRE
After 30 years of authoritarian rule, President Mobutu Sese Seko remains
firmly in control of Zairian politics, despite his 5-year-old promise of
democratic reform. Although a National Conference was convened in 1992,
Mobutu later withdrew his support for its chosen Prime Minister, Etienne
Tshisekedi wa Mulumba, and appointed a former Tshisekedi ally, Faustin
Birindwa, to lead the Government. Refusing to accept Mobutu's authority
to remove him, Tshisekedi presided over a parallel government until June
1993 when both the Birindwa and Tshisekedi governments ceased to
function. In mid-1994, Mobutu allies and opposition leaders negotiated
an end to the political stalemate by combining elements of the two
governments to create a transitional constitution (the Transitional Act)
and a combined transitional parliament (the HCR-PT). In turn, the HCR-
PT elected Kengo wa Dondo as its Prime Minister, although some elements
of the opposition contest the legality of the election. With the
opposition divided, the HCR-PT postponed national elections and voted
itself a 24-month extension of the transition, which is now scheduled to
conclude before July 1997.
The President's authority continues to rest importantly on his control
of key security forces, and the Kengo Government has little control over
these forces. The Civil Guard and the 15,000-strong Special
Presidential Division (DSP) forces remain under the tutelage of Mobutu
loyalists generals Baramoto Kpama Kpata and Nzimbi Ngable, respectively.
Both divisions are better disciplined and paid with more frequency than
the regular armed forces and the gendarmerie. The Civil Guard, a police
force trained to use police measures as well as methods to combat
terrorism, to prevent fraud in customs collections, and to maintain
order, is independent in structure but has been integrated into the
armed forces. Nonetheless, members of all the security forces often
prey on civilians, generally without official rebuke. Undisciplined
soldiers continued to commit many criminal infractions, including
robbery, extortion, and looting on a daily basis. Members of the
security forces also committed numerous serious human rights abuses.
Despite initial skepticism, there has been high praise for the
performance of close to 1,500 DSP troops policing the Rwandan refugee
camps for most of 1995.
The modern sector of the economy has collapsed since 1991, and many
parts of the country have returned to barter systems in lieu of monetary
exchanges. Civil servants and military have gone without pay for
periods of many months. Subsistence agriculture is the mainstay of the
economy and permits the country to survive the lengthy crisis. Industry
remains largely crippled. Lack of new investment, poor roads and other
facilities, and corruption--which affects all segments of the economy--
have contributed to the decline, especially in the once highly
profitable mining and minerals sector. Diamonds and offshore oil
revenues constitute the country's major source of foreign currency. The
Kengo Government made some headway in restructuring the financial
sector--including halting the massive importation of illegally produced
Zairian currency, which was a major impetus to wild inflation and
currency depreciation in 1994--and slowing the decline in the value of
the national currency in 1995. Also, the Government succeeded in
presenting a national budget in December 1994 for the first time in 3
years.
Amid a general atmosphere of economic and personal insecurity, the
Government continued to tolerate and commit serious human rights abuses.
Large scale military pillaging abated as the Government occasionally met
military payrolls; however, with the President in ultimate control, the
security forces continued to commit numerous human rights abuses,
including extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary detention. In
general, the authorities permitted such acts with impunity. Prison
conditions remain life threatening. Citizens have never been able to
vote to change their government in multiparty elections. While there
was some increase in freedom of expression, including a proliferation of
independent newspapers, pro-Mobutu forces sought to limit freedom of
speech and the press, and military and civilian security forces
regularly detained or arrested journalists, editors, and even newspaper
vendors. The authorities permitted some political demonstrations to
proceed unhindered, but in many others the police intervened with
threats, bullets, detentions, and, in one instance, with lethal force.
The judicial system is not independent and continued to be plagued by
corruption, lack of due process, and many other problems; it remained
ineffective as a deterrent or corrective force to human rights abuses.
Security forces continued to violate citizens' right to privacy. Ethnic
conflict in eastern Zaire, exacerbated by the refugee influx from Rwanda
and Burundi, resulted in many civilian deaths.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
Security forces, including police, committed many killings during the
year. However, given the administrative and security breakdown
throughout the country and the often anecdotal nature of the accounts of
these killings, it was often difficult to determine whether political,
monetary, personal, or law enforcement objectives motivated these
security force killings. Reports often linked killings to random acts
of robbery or extortion. For example, the local press in Kisangani
reported that gendarmes killed as many as 50 people during armed
robberies in 1 month. Only rarely did the authorities make inquiries
into such incidents. In the east, ethnic conflict led to many deaths
(see Section 1.g.).
In July, in the most egregious example of extrajudicial killing, Civil
Guards used lethal force to put down an unauthorized demonstration by
the Unified Lumumbast Party (PALU) in Kinshasa. Human rights monitors,
press reports, and the Kengo Government state that 4 protesters and 1
soldier died and that 54 others were seriously wounded. There were
clear political objectives involved in the aftermath of the
demonstration, when the military attacked the home of PALU leader
Antoine Gizenga and raped and killed a member of his family. The
military and the Government launched official inquiries into these
incidents but failed to report any results by year's end.
In January government troops used excessive force in repressing striking
railroad workers, killing one person and wounding several others (see
Section 6.a.). No one has been named responsible for the killing.
In Shaba security forces also committed political and extrajudicial
killings. Continuing a longstanding pattern of conflict between local
military leaders and the Shaba-based party, the Union of Independent
Republicans (UFERI), in March the Civil Guard targeted UFERI members and
its youth wing on two separate occasions, killing three persons. In May
uniformed forces disrupted a UFERI party rally, killing one protester
and wounding four others by gunfire. The military acted on the orders
of General Mosala and not of anyone in the civilian government in Shaba
or in the Kengo Government. Both the then Shaba governor, Gabriel
Kyungu, and General Mosala were subsequently removed from office in
Shaba. In December Kyungu was briefly detained in Lubumbashi after a
march by his party, UFERI, was banned by the acting governor.
In several cases, notably in the country's interior, citizens responded
to military aggression in kind, sometimes killing soldiers. In Kitwit,
for example, residents lynched a soldier who had moments earlier
murdered a civilian. In one instance, PALU activists murdered a soldier
who was trying to block their demonstration.
b. Disappearance
There were several reports of disappearances; however, some of these
instances may have been criminal, rather than political, in nature.
Security forces regularly hold alleged suspects in secret detention for
varying periods of time before acknowledging that they are actually in
custody. The most frequent accounts of disappearances are those
perpetrated by unidentified assailants who abduct, threaten, and often
beat their victims before releasing them. Journalists and opposition
party members claim that they are targets for such actions. Patrick
Shotsha On'Oto, a youth leader who had been periodically harassed by
uniformed personnel since participating in the 1992 Christian students'
march, disappeared in April after giving a lecture on the role young
people should play in elections. His whereabouts remained unknown at
year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
Although the law forbids torture, security forces and prison officials
regularly disregard this prohibition. They often beat prisoners in the
process of arresting or interrogating them. Several released prisoners
claim to have been struck, kicked, whipped, and suspended upside down
for long periods of time. After being beaten while in military custody,
a prisoner from Kinshasa's Camp Tshatshi was hospitalized for abdominal
hemorrhaging. In April four of General Bosembo's security guards
apprehended Dr. Muema Ngoy Toka, a member of the Democratic Social
Christian Party (PDSC), and beat him severely before the general
authorized his release. The authorities, including the judiciary,
rarely investigate claims of torture, despite their prevalence.
Conditions in most of Zaire's known 220 prisons and places of detention
remain life threatening. The central Government does not assume
responsibility for furnishing prisons with food or medical supplies.
Prison facilities are grossly inadequate; living conditions are harsh
and unsanitary, and prisoners are poorly treated. The system is marked
by severe shortages of funds, medical facilities, food, and trained
personnel. Overcrowding and corruption are widespread. Reports of
prisoners being tortured, beaten to death, deprived of food and water,
or dying of starvation are common. Many prisoners are wholly dependent
on family and friends for their survival.
Inmates at Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa sleep on the floor without
bedding and have no access to sanitation, potable water, or adequate
health care. Even in Makala's best-equipped ward, 114 white collar
criminals share one latrine. Tuberculosis, red diarrhea, and other
infectious diseases are rampant. Although authorities have not targeted
women for abuse, rape does occur. Of the 45 women in Makala Prison in
July, 6 were accompanied by children under the age of 5 years.
Political prisoners are held in a separate ward and are allowed little,
if any, contact with prison visitors.
On December 27, the Minister of Justice issued an order prohibiting
government officials and soldiers from imprisoning people in 25 of the
73 detention centers in the region of Kinshasa. The decision was based
on a judicial commission's report that these 25 facilities were in "an
advanced state of unhealthiness incompatible with human dignity."
Makala Central Prison was not listed among the 25 prisons which should
no longer be used.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), religious
organizations, and a handful of local human rights organizations report
that they have regular access to prisons nationwide. In some cases,
however, the Government's unpublicized creation of unofficial detention
sites circumvents their access.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Under the law, serious offenses, punishable by more than 6 months'
imprisonment, do not require a warrant for a suspect's arrest. Only a
law enforcement officer with "judicial police officer" status is
empowered to authorize arrest. This status is also vested in senior
officers of each of the security services. The law instructs security
forces to bring detainees to the police within 24 hours. The law also
provides that detainees must be charged within 24 hours and be brought
within 48 hours before a magistrate, who may authorize provisional
detention for varying renewable periods.
In practice, these provisions are rarely followed. Gendarmes and Civil
Guards commonly detain civilians without any legal authority, and the
security forces--especially those carrying out the President's
directives or those of any other official with authority--use arbitrary
arrests to intimidate outspoken opponents and journalists. The military
and security are controlled by the President. Charges are rarely filed,
obscuring the precise motive for political arrests. When the
authorities actually do press charges, the claims are often trumped up
or dredged out of the archives of colonial regulations.
In February DSP forces arrested Bobo ye Mweni on questionable charges of
diamond embezzlement. Credible reports indicate that the warrant for
his arrest was signed by President Mobutu's son, Manda, who is not
vested with such authority. In March DSP agents arrested Bobo's parents
and sisters and held the family for several months. In the case of PALU
leader Antoine Gizenga, the Government charged him with violating a 1959
colonial ordinance banning political demonstrations without a permit.
In another highly publicized case, the authorities arrested two union
leaders, Okitalombo Pena Ngongo and Mbelu Tshimanga, on spurious charges
of defamation and denied them a preliminary hearing; they were held
without trial for almost 2 months, and then released without charge.
Political detainees are typically held incommunicado, with irregular or
no access to legal counsel, sometimes held in unofficial detention
sites. Opposition newspaper journalist Essolomwa Nkoy's detention of
several days at the Tshatshi military camp for an article accusing top
generals of corruption was characteristic of this kind of detention. In
another politically motivated incident, police assaulted and detained
acting UFERI party regional head Astrid Tshikung and others for several
hours in June.
Corrupt local officials often use detention as a means of extortion,
arresting people on fabricated charges, releasing them only after
payment of a "fine." In July civilian intelligence officers in
Lubumbashi illegally detained an American human rights activist and a
British citizen. The American was released 1 day later, but the British
citizen spent 5 days in custody, while the officers attempted to extort
$5,000 for his release.
Of the 920 detainees accounted for in Makala Prison in July, more than
70 percent had yet to come before a judge, although many of them had
spent as long as 2 years behind prison walls.
The Transitional Act specifically forbids exile, and there were no known
cases.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
Despite constitutional provisions, the judiciary is not independent of
the executive branch, and the latter often manipulates it.
Zaire's Civil and Criminal Codes are based on Belgian and customary law.
The legal system includes lower courts, appellate courts, the Supreme
Court, and the Court of State Security. There is a system of separate
military tribunals with an appeals structure that parallels that of
civilian courts. Decisions from the military tribunals may be appealed
to the Supreme Court. Charges of misconduct against senior government
officials must be filed directly with the Supreme Court.
The Transitional Act provides for the right to a speedy public trial,
the presumption of innocence, and legal counsel at all stages of
proceedings. Defendants have the right to appeal in all cases except
those involving national security, armed robbery, and smuggling, which
are adjudicated by the Court of State Security. The law provides for
court-appointed counsel at state expense in capital cases, in all
proceedings before the Supreme Court, and in other cases when requested
by the court.
In practice, the authorities frequently ignore these protections.
Adherence to established legal procedures varies considerably, and fair
public trial is rare, especially for
critics of the Mobutu forces as in the case of the two Le Point editors
(see Section 2.a.). Corruption is pervasive, particularly among
magistrates who are poorly paid and poorly trained, and the entire
judicial system is further hobbled by shortages of personnel, essential
supplies, and infrastructure. Many defendants never meet their counsel
or do so only after months of detention and interrogation. Most cases
are heard only when the defendant or plaintiff pay all court costs,
including salaries, a situation which encourages corruption.
Judicial officials sent to remote areas in the country in some cases
either refused to assume their posts or fled from them in ethnic
purification campaigns, particularly in Maniema and Shaba. As a result,
local authorities usurped judicial proceedings in some parts of the
country.
There are no reliable statistics on the number of political prisoners in
Zaire, but the trend of incarcerating people for their political views
in 1995 was definitely downward compared to past years. On December 26,
the authorities released Kabila Kakule, a translator at the National
Library, who had been jailed for translating National Conference
documents into national languages.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
Security forces routinely ignore the Transitional Act's provision for
the inviolability of the home and of private correspondence. They
ignore the requirement for a search warrant, entering and searching
homes at will. In March gendarmes in Lilangi perpetrated a villagewide
house-by-house pillage while detaining homeowners in the local prison.
In April approximately 60 Civil Guards besieged the home of the
suspended head of the national customs office in Kinshasa where they
stole money and personal belongings. Security forces looted Antoine
Gizenga's home following PALU's July 29 demonstration (see Section
1.a.).
The threat of rape, sometimes perpetrated by uniformed persons,
restricts the freedom of movement at night for women in some
neighborhoods. Groups of citizens have implemented neighborhood watch
programs, but women in many parts of Kinshasa do not leave their homes
at night.
The DSP has also been used to intimidate private businesses for the
commercial gain of individuals. For example, the DSP intervened in a
private commercial dispute between a foreign-owned company and a local
competitor firm owned by one of Mobutu's closest associates. The Kengo
Government strongly supports the contractual rights of foreign investors
and has sought, unsuccessfully in most cases, to curtail arbitrary
interference by elements of the military, as in this case. Uniformed
personnel routinely interfere with daily economic activities, especially
those that take place outside formal channels. Currency vendors are
particularly at risk and remain subject to repeated robberies by
uniformed assailants. In June soldiers in Kinshasa looted a makeshift
market before burning it down and chasing sellers from the area.
Citizens are free to join or refrain from participating in any political
party. However, opposition party members often complain that they are
followed or harassed by troops loyal to the President. Citizens widely
assume that the Government monitors mail and telephone communications.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal Conflicts
Ethnic clashes, notably in the Masisi area of eastern Zaire, led to many
human rights abuses, despite the June deployment of Zairian troops to
the region. In early July, 85 people were killed when fighting again
erupted between the Banyarwanda, immigrants of Rwandan origin, and
indigenous ethnic groups. The 1994 influx of refugees and former
Rwandan soldiers aggravated the longstanding conflict between these
Zairian groups. Also, ambiguities in Banyarwanda legal status, caused
by conflicting laws that bestow and then revoke citizenship, further
inflamed tensions, especially with the prospect of multiparty elections.
In contrast, the situation improved in Shaba province when Governor
Gabriel Kyungu wa Kumwanza's overt campaign against Kasains living in
Shaba ended; he was suspended from office indefinitely in May. By July
nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) and other donor agencies had
resettled the last groups of displaced Kasains who had been forced to
flee Shaba.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Transitional Act provides for freedom of expression as a fundamental
civil right. While the press and the public are able more openly to
exercise freedom of expression than before the transition began in 1990,
in practice the Government-- notably those elements loyal to the
President--continues arbitrarily to intimidate, harass, and detain
journalists and other media officials for publishing controversial
pieces. Newspaper publishers are required to deposit copies of each
issue with the Ministry of Information prior to publication. In
December the Parliament passed a new press law after consultations with
media representatives, but the President had not signed it by the end of
the year, and it appeared he would send it back to Parliament for
reconsideration. While the proposed law deals mainly with media
administrative issues, it would also codify the law in libel cases and
require journalists to reveal sources "when required by the law."
In April the Attorney General ordered the arrest of two Le Point
editors, Belmonde Magloire Missinhou and Mazangu Mbuilu, for publishing
an article critical of the judiciary. They were held in preventive
detention for 2 months and then sentenced to an additional 7 months in
prison. They were released in December. Also in April, the authorities
arrested a Kin-Matin journalist for his article denouncing the
introduction of new currency denominations of 1,000 and 5,000 New Zaire
notes. In some cases, government and military authorities target media
reporters and officials for extortion purposes.
The principal means of communication with the public are radio and
television, both of which remain under presidential control. The
Ministry of Information suspended four television reporters for refusing
to broadcast a message for Mobutu's political party, the Popular
Movement of the Revolution (MPR).
In principle, academic freedom is provided for in the Transitional Act.
However, in the past when teachers have organized to protest their
salaries and working conditions, they have sometimes been met with
repression.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Transitional Act upholds the right to assemble but subsumes the full
exercise of this right to the maintenance of "public order." The
Government requires all organizers to apply for permits which are
granted or rejected at its discretion. In some cases, the Government
uses the issuance of permits to discriminate against political opponents
and has revived a 1959 colonial ordinance to justify banning public
meetings. However, the Government did allow several groups, including
the radical opposition, to hold several large gatherings, the last one
on August 6, and on that occasion security forces displayed discipline.
Nevertheless, in other instances security forces repressed unauthorized
political and other demonstrations, sometimes violently (see Section
1.a.). In March, for example, when civil servants marched to protest 8
to 12 months of salary arrears, security forces arrested 34 protesters,
detaining them for 7 days. While several reports of the July 29 killing
of 14 PALU demonstrators by Civil Guard forces maintain that the PALU
supporters were violent, throwing stones and killing a soldier, the
military demonstrated again its inability to effect crowd control
consistently without resort to excessive use of force.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Transitional Act provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government respects this provision in practice, with the reservation
that the expression of this right neither disturb public order nor
contradict commonly held morals, There is no legally established or
favored church or religion. A 1971 law regulating religious
organizations grants civil servants the power to establish or dissolve
religious groups. Although this law restricts the process for official
recognition, officially recognized religions are free to establish
places of worship and to train clergy. Most recognized churches have
external ties, and foreign nationals are allowed to proselytize. The
Government generally does not interfere with foreign missionaries.
There has been no further known persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses, who
have been permitted to construct a headquarters in Kinshasa.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation
The Transitional Act allows for freedom of movement, but the Government,
and in particular the security forces acting independently, restrict
this freedom. All citizens, refugees and permanent residents must carry
identity cards. Security forces erect checkpoints on major roads to
inspect vehicle papers, usually to extort money from travelers at
airports, ferry ports, and roadblocks. In November Prime Minister Kengo
dismissed 100 gendarmes accused of harassing motorists, although his
efforts did little to curb the security forces' widespread extortion.
Passports and exit permits are available in principle to all citizens
but often at exorbitant cost from corrupt officials. Women must have
the permission of their husbands to apply for a passport (see Section
5).
Zaire continues to house some 750,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees along its
densely populated eastern border. It cooperates with the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who estimates that there are
approximately 120,000 Burundi Hutu refugees located in the same area.
Extreme regional insecurity prompted the United Nations and donor
nations to request a neutral military presence in the camps. With no
international response forthcoming, they authorized in December 1994 a
contingent of Zairian special forces to take on the task. At year's
end, the second contingent of 1,500 Zairian Camp Security Contingent
troops from the Special Presidential Division continued to perform their
duty well, and, according to the UNHCR and other U.N. agencies, the
security situation has improved, although serious obstacles remained.
Cross-border violence has rendered the overall refugee security
situation even more unstable, and refugees are subject to extortion,
robbery, and sexual abuse.
There have been abuses by both the former Rwandan military and civilian
refugees in the camps. The Kengo Government agreed to remove
intimidators in the refugee camps in late December.
In a July visit to the region, Prime Minister Kengo announced that the
refugees in the Kivu provinces must return home. On August 19, the
Zairian army started forced repatriation of Rwandan and Burundian Hutu
refugees declaring that Zaire was bearing the weight of the presence of
these refugees on its territory and that the Government of Rwanda had
done nothing to create conditions inside Rwanda to allow the refugees to
return to their homes. Following a commitment from the UNHCR to
reinvigorate organized voluntary repatriation, the Government suspended
forced repatriation on August 24 but stated that Zaire retains the right
to resume forced expulsions if the UNHCR fails to make sufficient
progress through voluntary repatriation. More than 14,000 Rwandan and
Burundian refugees had been forcibly repatriated prior to the August
suspension. In November, after again threatening to expel refugees by
December 31, the Government agreed to allow refugees to remain, provided
regional efforts were made to facilitate their return.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Transitional Act mandates the right of citizens to change their
government, but Zairians have never been able to exercise this right and
vote in multiparty elections. President Mobutu continued to impede
democratic progress by exercising control over key parts of the state
apparatus, especially the military, and by coopting factions of the
political opposition, often with spurious promises. In the process, the
President exacerbated party maneuvering and political posturing in the
Transitional Parliament (HCR-PT) and stimulated Tshisekedi's and the
radical opposition's intransigence in Parliament. Already by July the
divided HCR-PT had extended its own mandate and postponed elections for
2 more years.
Despite these impediments, the Parliament passed implementing
legislation establishing a National Electoral Commission (NEC) to
conduct a nationwide census, register voters, publish a list of
candidates, and supervise eventual elections. On January 1, 1996, the
HCR-PT broke the deadlock over the question of the NEC membership.
Initially, the President refused to sign legislation aimed at
decentralizing government and reorganizing provincial civil affairs.
The HCR-PT sent another version of the legislation to the President in
late November, and he signed it on December 20.
There is no official discrimination against the participation of women
or minorities in politics. However, there are few women in senior
positions in the Government or in political parties. At the Fourth
World Conference on Women, the Minister of Health and Family, Mrs.
Florentine Fwani Eyenga, cited the low level of political participation
of women in Zaire as a major problem. Only a few women are in the 728-
member Transitional Parliament.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
While the Government rarely responds to human rights accusations, it
permits a number of effective nongovernmental human rights organizations
to operate, including the Zairian Association for the Defense of Human
Rights (AZADHO) and the Voice of the Voiceless (VSV). Both
organizations investigate and publish their findings on human rights
cases, largely without government restriction. The Government
acknowledged AZADHO's 1994 report of human rights abuses, although it
quibbled with the group's figures. However, the security forces
continued occasionally to harass and intimidate human rights monitors.
In April military security forces apprehended and intimidated one of
AZADHO's secretaries. In July, in two separate incidents, security
agents harassed members of another Kinshasa-based human rights group.
The Government permits international organizations to visit and discuss
abuses; the ICRC is allowed to visit prisons on a regular basis.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability,
Language, or Social Status
The Transitional Act forbids discrimination based on ethnicity, sex, or
religious affiliation, but the Government has made little headway in
advancing these provisions. Societal discrimination remains an obstacle
to the advancement of certain groups, particularly women and the Pygmy
(Batwa) ethnic group.
Women
Domestic violence against women, including rape, is believed to be
common, but, there are no known government or NGO statistics on the
extent of this violence. Rape is a crime in Zaire, but the press rarely
prints articles about "a rape" or violence toward women or children.
When the press reports on a rape, it is generally as a consequence of
some other crime, but rarely because of the act of rape itself. Rarely
are the police involved in domestic disputes, and local NGO's dealing
with women's issues state that they have not heard of any court cases in
1995 in Kinshasa involving rape or spousal abuse.
Despite constitutional provisions, women are relegated to a secondary
role in society. They remain the primary agricultural laborers, small-
scale traders, and vendors and are exclusively responsible for
childrearing. In the nontraditional sector, women commonly receive less
pay for comparable work. Only rarely do they occupy positions of
authority or high responsibility. They also tend to receive less
education than men. Women are required by law to obtain their spouse's
permission before engaging in routine legal transactions, such as
selling or renting real estate, opening a bank account, accepting
employment, or applying for a passport (see Section 2.d.).
A 1987 revision of the Family Code permits a widow to inherit her
husband's property, to control her own property, and to receive a
property settlement in the event of divorce. In practice, women are
repeatedly denied these rights. Widows are commonly stripped of all
possessions--as well as their dependent children--by the deceased
husband's family. Human rights groups and church organizations are
working to combat this custom, but there is generally no government
intervention or legal recourse. Women also are denied custody of their
children in divorce cases, but they retain the right to visit them.
Polygyny is practiced although it is illegal. Children resulting from
polygynous unions are legally recognized, but only the first wife is
legally recognized as a spouse.
Children
Government spending on children's programs is nearly nonexistent. Most
schools, for example, only function in areas where parents have formed
cooperatives to pay teachers' salaries.
There are no documented cases in which security forces or others target
children for specific abuse, although children suffer from the same
conditions of generalized social disorder and widespread disregard for
human rights that affect society as a whole. These conditions sometimes
render parents unable to meet their children's basic human needs.
Female genital mutilation, which is widely condemned by international
health experts as damaging to both physical and psychological health, is
not widespread, but it is practiced on young girls among isolated groups
in the north.
People With Disabilities
The law does not mandate accessibility to buildings or government
services for the disabled. Special schools, many with missionary staff,
use private funds and limited public support to provide education and
vocational training to blind and physically disabled students.
Indigenous people
Societal discrimination continues against Zaire's Pygmy (Batwa)
population of between 6,000 and 10,000. Although citizens, Pygmies
living in remote areas take no part in the political process.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Zaire's population of about 40 million includes over 200 separate ethnic
groups. Four indigenous languages have national status. French is the
language of government, commerce, and education. Members of President
Mobutu's Ngbandi ethnic group are disproportionately represented at the
highest levels of the military and intelligence services.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Transitional Act and other legislation permit all workers except
magistrates and military personnel to form and join trade unions.
Before 1990, the law required all trade unions to affiliate with the
National Union of Zairian Workers (UNTZA), the single legally recognized
labor confederation which formed part of Mobutu's MPR party. When
political pluralism was permitted in April 1990, the UNTZA disaffiliated
itself from the MPR and reorganized under new leadership chosen through
elections deemed fair by outside observers. Although the UNTZA remains
the largest union organization, almost 100 other independent labor
unions are now registered with the Labor Ministry. Some of these are
affiliated with political parties or associated with a single industry
or geographic area.
The Government recognizes the right to strike; however, legal strikes
rarely occur since the law requires prior resort to lengthy mandatory
arbitration and appeal procedures. Labor unions have not been able to
defend effectively the rights of workers in the deteriorating economic
environment. In January government troops repressed striking railroad
workers, killing one and wounding several others (see Section 1.a.). In
March the authorities arrested and detained for 7 days 31 civil servants
and 3 organizers during a demonstration in protest of months of salary
arrears. Many civil servants have remained on strike since then.
General strikes, often called by political parties and not necessarily
organized by unions, do occur despite their illegality. The law
prohibits employers or the Government from retaliating against strikers,
but it is rarely enforced.
In November the International Labor Organization Committee on Freedom of
Association (CFA) cited Zaire for serious violations of the principles
of freedom of association on the basis of complaints arising from events
between mid-1993 and March 1995. The CFA expressed "deep concern" about
"arrests, detentions, and torture of trade unionists, acts of repression
against demonstrators, the hampering of trade union activities, and acts
of antiunion discrimination, including the dismissal of officials,
prohibition of union meetings in the health services, refusal to
register trade unions, creation of trade unions by the authorities, and
the Government's refusal to negotiate with representative trade unions."
The CFA regretted the Government's failure to respond to these
allegations and called on it to make restitution where possible and to
desist from such actions in the future.
Unions may affiliate with international bodies. The UNTZA participates
in the Organization of African Trade Union Unity, and the Central Union
of Zaire is affiliated with the World Confederation of Labor.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The law provides for the right to bargain collectively, and an agreement
between the UNTZA and the employers association provided for wages and
prices to be negotiated jointly each year under minimal government
supervision. This system, which functioned until 1991, broke down as a
result of the rapid depreciation of the currency. While collective
bargaining still exists in theory, continuing hyperinflation has
encouraged a return to pay rates individually arranged between employers
and employees.
The collapse of the formal economy has also resulted in a decline in the
influence of unions, a tendency to ignore existing labor regulations,
and a buyer's market for labor. The Labor Code prohibits antiunion
discrimination, although this regulation is not strongly enforced by the
Ministry of Labor. The law also requires employers to reinstate workers
fired for union activities. In the public sector, the Government sets
wages by decree; public sector unions act only in an informal advisory
capacity.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits forced labor, and such labor is not practiced.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The legal minimum age for employment is 18 years. Employers may legally
hire minors 14 years of age and older with the consent of a parent or
guardian, but those under 16 years may work a maximum of 4 hours per
day; youth between 16 and 18 years may work up to 8 hours. Employment
of children of all ages is common in the informal economic sector and in
subsistence agriculture. Neither the Ministry of Labor, which is
responsible for enforcement, nor the labor unions make an effort to
enforce child labor laws. Larger enterprises do not commonly exploit
child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
Most citizens are engaged in subsistence agriculture or commerce outside
the formal wage sector. The minimum wage, last adjusted by government
decree in 1990, is irrelevant due to rapid inflation. Most workers rely
on the extended family and informal economic activity to survive.
The maximum legal workweek (excluding voluntary overtime) is 48 hours.
One 24-hour rest period is required every 7 days. The Labor Code
specifies health and safety standards, and, while the Ministry of Labor
is officially charged with enforcing these standards, its efforts to do
so remained insufficient. There are no provisions in the Labor Code
permitting workers to remove themselves from dangerous work situations
without penalty.
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[end of document]
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