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Individual NGO Report to theCommittee on the Rights of the Child74th Session - 16 January to 3 February 2017DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Contact: Catherine MUTINDI
Good Shepherd Programme DirectorNumero 1147 Avenue Kasavubu
Quartier Biashara, Cummune de Dilala Ville de Kolwezi, Province du Lualaba
Democratic Republic of [email protected]
Yolanda SANCHEZ CONTRERASMain NGO Representative in Geneva
43 Rue des Macchabées69005, Lyon, France
+33 6 78 93 86 90 (France) +41 76 291 67 45 (Switzerland)
http://www.buonpastoreint.org/jp-enThe submission can be posted on the CRC website.
Issues addressed in this report:
Child labour, child marriage, Orphan and Vulnerable Child, physical punishment, sexual violence, drinking water, environmental pollution.
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Introduction1. This contribution is a submission of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations since 1996, to bring to the UN the concerns of the most vulnerable people especially girls, women and children in situations of human trafficking, prostitution, and migration. The organization is based in 73 countries around the world.
Political, Economic and Social Context:
2. Ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world despite its immense natural resources, the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing a very difficult socio-economic situation. More than 71% of the population live below the poverty line.
3. In 2012, three members of the organization arrived to Kolwezi in the mining region of Katanga (current Lualaba) in southern DRC, invited by the local leader of the Catholic Church who was concerned by the increasing poverty, the lack of education and the vulnerability of children and women. Following extensive home visits and wider consultations with local communities, the organization began working with them in “Domaine Marial”, a peri-urban area of Kolwezi. “Domaine Marial” is a town of 70,000 people, mostly artisanal mining families working in the vast copper and cobalt mines that dominate the area.
4. The communities, located on the outskirts of Kolwezi, developed in response to labour demand from the mines. These villages attracted families from other regions to work in the copper and cobalt parastatal mining corporation: Gécamines. These multi-ethnic neighbourhoods have been developed as a result of economic migration and were never part of an urban planning system. They are best described as peri-urban slums. There is a lack of much needed services and infrastructure to accommodate a population whose growth rate has exceeded that of the national capital, Kinshasa. Since the development of the Kanina quartiers of Domaine Marial in the 1950’s, the village has grown from a population of 4,900 in 1986 to an estimated 32,000 in 2011.
5. The majority of the men living in quartiers of “Domaine Marial” are miners who live in a particularly precarious and fragile post-conflict environment. They are faced with dwindling livelihood choices and many are forced into debt in order to survive. The miners continue to be victims of forced displacement, ill-treatment, harassment, extortion, violence and human rights abuse as mining concessions are awarded to international companies and the government fails to provide sufficient open pits for the dedicated artisanal mining sector. Desperate poverty, hunger and competition for employment lead to conflict and tensions in the community, which are further fuelled by alcohol and drug abuse. Crime within the community is increasing. Riots arise as community anger mounts due to a lack of gainful employment in the mines and a lack of alternative livelihoods. The multi-ethnic composition of the community plays a part in exacerbating divisions; the community is in constant fear of a repeat of the politically induced xenophobic riots of the 1990s.
6. The most vulnerable groups in the artisanal mining communities are women, girls and children. Furthermore, girls are less likely than boys to be enrolled in school at all ages. In 2008-2009 in Kolwezi, the male to female ratio for primary school education was 6:4 (Ministry of Education, Kolwezi, 2011-2012).
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The current programs of the organization in Kolwezi are documented in the film “Maisha A New Life Outside the Mines” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb0a0t8JJnc), published on October 31 2015. This film won a special award, on October 2016, as Best Ethnographic Film granted by Wildlife Vaasa 2016 and the Award to the best Documentary Short Film on the Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival on December 1st 2016.
7. Children are particularly vulnerable to the impact of poverty including social and family breakdown. Children in the artisanal communities who are most at risk are those who have lost one or both parents, those impacted by HIV/AIDS and those forced by families to work, especially those working in the mines. Long-term underinvestment in education has resulted in extreme poverty that many families can only temporarily alleviate by perpetuating the cycle and placing their children in the workforce instead of school. This is evident in the programme site with children attending the informal school. Absenteeism of two days or more per week ranged from 60% to 75% over a five week period.
8. Child labour is widespread in the community and in the entire country of the DRC. The level of exploitation of children’s labour in the community is significant, with 70% of children working of which 64% work in the mines. During the time of research by the organization, children reported that the main reason for working in mines was to supplement family income. The contribution to family incomes is not insignificant, with children reporting incomes of between 100FC (1.09USD) per day and up to 5000FC (5.49USD) per week. (The majority of this income was passed onto their mothers.) The Child Protection Act was passed in 2007 and the Child Protection Code was ratified in 2009, but to date no action plan has been drawn up by the government. In the Child Protection Act, it is clear that the legal age for children to work is set at 16 years of age, but the law is rarely applied.
9. A total of 25% of the child population of DRC qualifies as an Orphan or Vulnerable Child (OVC). By definition, OVCs have lost one or both parents, have been made vulnerable owing to a parent’s illness or their parents have been affected/infected by HIV/AIDS. In this specific context, and characteristic of all (artisanal) mining areas, many parents (and children as well) also die as a result of cave-ins due to landslides during working times. Mortality rates, driven by family breakdowns, conflict and the HIV pandemic, have caused the number of households caring for an OVC to experience explosive growth nationally. This growth is reflected in the target community: 60% of children and 55% of adolescent girls had lost one or both parents. While these children are eligible for improved government services, this support rarely materializes which adds pressure on family resources when taking care of them. This pressure often leads to increased exploitation by extended families, especially in relation to child labour. In the context of extreme poverty, the necessity of stretching family budgets to accommodate more family members and school fees is all but impossible. Other orphans suffer exclusion and violence from the community as a result of being branded as ‘witches’; this is especially true of HIV and AIDS orphans.
10. Central to the life of communities in Kolwezi, is the governance of the mining sector. Corruption, mismanagement and illicit trade have prevented the wealth generated from the extractive industries from being channeled into the country, where it could be used to establish basic services for the Congolese people. The poor implementation and monitoring of the 2002 Mining Code by the Government has also led to mining companies neglecting their responsibilities with regards to delivery of social development programmes for communities affected by the operations of the mining companies.
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11. The declaration from the Prime Minister to ensure the functioning of the National Council of the Child continues to be delayed. Nothing much seems to have happened regarding the implementation of the National 2009 child law.
12. The amount of neglected children out of school; children in child labour, child soldiers, children on the streets and abused child victims of various facets of socio-cultural/religious issues, particularly children victimized and ostracized as ‘child-witches’; don’t seem to get any better. This issue is further aggravated by the high rate of early age mortality of their parents that renders many children to be orphans. This factor and the high rate of poverty see children assuming parental responsibilities as early as 5 which in turn lead to child labour.
13. Girls continue to be married as early as 12 because marriage is seen as a solution to the situation of poverty and becomes a vicious cycle from one generation to the next. In spite of the great support and funds that the government continues to receive from international partners like the World Bank, UNICEF, USAID, UKAID and others, this practice has not been changed. Many sessions on capacity development continue to be realized but there doesn’t seem to be much testimony of the impact resulting from such initiatives. For instance in this year alone, three UNICEF sponsored trainings on child protection were made in Kolwezi for the new Lualaba Province. 6 NGO-civil society structures and 4 local government agencies participated in these sessions each holding up to five training days. The main outcome was the formation of a provincial child protection network. The main challenge with this network is that it has no budget and the tasks for implementing this child protection network have not been clearly defined.
14. At the Provincial level, where the organization operates, the Minister of Mining in Lualaba has, in the month of October 2016; brought together representatives of different NGOs, the Mining Police and the Child Protection Police, as well as the representative of the Provincial Commissioner for Gender, Family and Child, to verbally set up a commission to discuss and monitor the situation of women and children working in the artisanal mines. At this meeting the decision was made that the budget for the functioning of this committee will come from contributions of the NGOs in place. Furthermore, a committee will be set up, intended for the monitoring of NGOs’ budgets, to give the Minister of Mines a clear picture of what he would be asking from each of the structures in favor of the reintegration of these women and children from the artisanal mines. Suggesting such an approach is an indirect way of saying that the government has not budgeted for child protection; or that the budget is ‘lost’ somewhere. Such moves in themselves contravene the same law (Act 75 of the Act of 10 January 2009), whereby centralized strategies towards the implementation of this law, which are supposed to come from the Prime Minister, have not been formed.
15. Our research reveals that the budget line for social protection, despite promises, has not been improved. It represented 0.13% of the national budget in 2014, 1.46% of the national budget in 2015, and 1.1% of the national budget in 2016. This shows that the resources to be allocated to the National Council are not yet on the agenda of the national government in the DRC.
16. Concerning the issue of free primary schooling under article 43 of the Congolese Constitution, the government continues to show very little commitment in this regard. Schools remain extremely limited and accessibility is a big challenge given the high tariffs asked by schools to supplement for the payment of teachers. The quality of the education given in schools is hardly monitored thus it is not surprising under normal circumstance to see many
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children complete their primary cycle in government schools without the ability to write their own names. In trying to address the issue of the many children at home unable to pay for their education, UNICEF has availed a budget for the payment of teachers in public schools, in an attempt to introduce free primary education for the first year, starting in 2016. While seemingly the funds have been availed to the concerned government agencies, the remuneration continues to be delayed and the teachers are waiting since the beginning of the school year September 5, 2016 (therefore 2 months the teachers are not remunerated). The sustainability of this programme is at risk.
17. Physical punishment continues to be applied as a ‘normal and integral necessity’ in local schools in the formal education system. Article 57 of the Protection of Children Act continues to be violated. To date no bill has been released on this. On the contrary, some owners of private schools are members of parliament or members of the central government, who do not pay attention to this aspect. Domestic physical punishment on children is also very rampant and goes unaddressed.
18. Unlawful acts committed by children are repressed with violence in contravening the law, the country remains without a child friendly system of responding to aggressions by children. A major step is the introduction of the Child Protection Police; who have been trained by the MUNESCO to respond on child abuse issues. In Lualaba, this Police Unit is operational since April 2016. The challenge is that this Police Unit does not have a budget and to date is operating in the corridors of the general provincial administrations facility without an office. This working environment reflects the lack of attention by the government concerning the care of children. Minors continue to be imprisoned in the same facilities as adults. Punishment is administered without the slightest consideration. A recent case noted in our area is the death of two young boys who were shot dead by the police at the "BIWAYA” mining site (KAPATA) close with the SICOMINE mining company in Kolwezi in October 2016. The state still tends to protect mining investors, whatever the cost against its own citizens; especially children.
We respectfully recommend that the committee asks: The government to budget for child social protection programs. The government to set up a child welfare service especially for the most
vulnerable children, those orphaned and particularly children victimized and ostracized as ‘child-witches’.
The government to fully implement Article 57 of the Child Protection Act eliminating physical punishment in private and public schools, and within families.
The government to implement The Child Protection Act passed in 2007 and the enactment of the 2009 Child Protection Code to avoid child labour.
The government to take action against child marriages. The government to support good practices of Civil Society running projects that
are promoting the potential of people in communities, child protection and environmental care.
Addressing the root causes of sexual violence
19. Culture continues to play an important role, even influencing the decisions of the judicial authorities. For instance, if a man defiles a girl of (near to) marriageable age (12 upwards), the case is easily settled by the man making a simple payment to the family of the girl. He can
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then take the girl for marriage, even as second wife. Payment can also be made for the abuse of younger girl-children, to ‘settle the issue’. Sexual violence and defilement gets even more aggravated by myths surrounding artisanal mining; for instance there is a belief that there is a greater chance of making more fortunes in the artisanal mines if a man defiles a virgin, and the younger the better. For example, around Quartier Kanina only, in the period between December 2015 and October 2016, 29 cases of defilement have been reported to our organization in Kolwezi. Among these, only 12 have successfully been brought forth for prosecution. Due to poor governance, lack of political will and the ignorance of the community, many criminals guilty of rape and defilement are released after a short stay in custody or detention, depending on the financial or sociopolitical influences of their families, who pay bribes to the entire prosecuting personnel. Therefore, most of these cases go unreported.
20. The newly established office in the Province for the Child Protection Police is not equipped to manage this task. Since April 2016, this office has operated in a room that is poorly situated and inadequately equipped to handle these cases of violence. It is in a condition that doesn’t provide for the confidentiality deserved both in receiving, managing and archiving such sensitive information. Again, the office has no budget. So far, the present condition of this office doesn’t reflect a sense of commitment on behalf of the government in supporting the initiative and efforts of MUNESCO to initiate and train Police officers for this immensely important task.
21. The culture of economic dependence on men and the lack of land ownership rights leave women and girls vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence. Many are forced to engage in survival tactics that include sexual exploitation in prostitution, which opens them to the risk of contracting HIV and AIDS. The organization also notes that the economic dependence is one of several risk factors for violence against girls and contributes to the high level of abuse by young men.
We respectfully recommend that the committee asks: The government to prosecute seriously the perpetrators of sexual violence
against girls and women. The government to reinforce and invest in education to break harmful myths, as
reported in paragraph 19 above that justifies the defilement and rape of girls. The government to ensure a budget for the Child Protection Police to set up an
adequate work place to guarantee confidentiality for victims.
The impact of pollution, chemicals and other hazards on the child's life in Kolwezi/Lualaba
22. The problem of environmental pollution and lack of drinking water due to mining activities in the town of Kolwezi, now the capital of the new Lualaba Province in the DRC, remains a consistent issue. In a peripheral district of the town of Kolwezi in Luilu, the media filmed a river polluted with sulfuric acid by the mining company SICOMINE in October 2016. Images of dead birds and dead fish from water containing sulfuric acid emmissions were captured all along the source of the river Lualaba. In November, a parliamentary commission to investigate the case issued a statement on the RCL - Free Community Radio, expressing its outrage over the publication by some press of these images depicting the pollution of the streams and rivers of Kolwezi.
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23. Within the site of the organization’s property in Kanina, there is a lake named Kabongo which emits a nauseating smell in the evening due to it being used for laundry services. Some people also use this lake for drinking water. This situation is not the subject of any concrete action on the part of the public authority. The same lake, which stretches to the Chinese COMMUS open pit mine, precisely 40 meters from the discharge embankments, serves as a place for cleaning minerals by collectors, including children. The water authority, a national drinking water distribution network, sometimes provides workers with colored water, which is visible proof that this water is not being filtered. Access to drinking water remains a luxury and only a few citizens are spared as they have drilled their own water wells on their private plots. The suburbs are totally forgotten.
24. The COMMUS mining company’s open-pit mine is less than 500 meters from the central shopping center in the city of Kolwezi, and less than 200 meters from houses on the outskirts of the urban villages of Kanina and Musonoie. The delocalization of neighboring populations to allow these mining activities has been done with the most minimal negotiations and with the least consideration of the impact of these activities to the immediate communities. This is a regular scenario; a situation which only widens the gap between the community and the mining sector.
No more than a weeks’ notice is given to the communities, and some form of monetary compensation is given to all those targeted to be moved. During the launch of mining excursions, the community is merely notified about when such an activity would be taking place. This could be done a day or a few hours before the exercise is launched. Sometimes children in the mines are asked to leave the perimeter just before the mining exploding event. Occasionally, the area Chief might be notified to request surrounding schools to retain children during the exercise. Often during such shocks, many children are found unaware and unaccompanied. In short, there is an entire disregard of the implementation of the mining code; particularly in reference to Article 279 (2) (a) (b) (c) regarding the processes of harmonious co-existing between mining companies and the neighboring communities. Mining companies also emit their waste of gasses and toxins into the neighborhoods with total disregard of the harmful impact this has on their immediate neighbors.
25. With consequence to the lives of children, water for bathing is unsuitable and causes skin diseases and damaging / complicated conditions. Not to mention, some children are already born with deformities; resulting from the effect of uranium and other toxic emissions principally exposed to women working in the artisanal mines as well as living within close proximity to these mining environments. Water and food are contaminated. Often the mining companies don’t treat their toxic wastes and dump them without recognition of their social responsibility. Some of this toxic waste finds its way into rivers and arable grounds affecting consuming water and food.
26. Among other consequences, the inadequate fencing around mines and proximity of waste embankments make the artisanal working environment a place of passage; a living and working environment for women accompanied by their children.
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Given the traffic of motorcycles and vehicles on the road, the risk of accidents is extremely high as workers must cross embankments towards the river and also from the river towards the embankments.
27. As for the pollution of the aforementioned river, it should be noted that the inhabitants live only on agriculture, and the water in their country is an indispensable commodity. Children find themselves obliged to travel long distances in search of drinking water with heavy containers not suitable for their age, size and mass. Such heavy work is not always paid, but sometimes it is done just to allow the family to survive.
28. A very costly and highly publicized ceremony of planting trees had been organized in Kinshasa, the capital of DRC, with delegates from all the provinces of the country attending to mark the celebration of the World Environmental Day 2016. However, since that ceremony no efforts have been made to promote the sustainability of the event, nor have any initiatives been put forward for managing the serious threat of deforestation. Deforestation is growing at an extremely high rate. A major factor given is that 99.9% of domestic cooking fuel is charcoal. Tree cutting is not regulated. Tons of wood is being taken out of the country on a daily basis; with many trees cut with the view to build private and public infrastructure (roads, power line restoration, etc.). In cases of abusive tree cutting, the prosecuting agencies are highly corrupt and marred by high levels of impunity. More so, deforestation related to mining and the entire environmental consequences linked to mining are not the subject serious follow-up or monitoring by the public authority and often the procedures are not coherent to the mining code. After the closure of mines or the completion of mining activities, lands are left un-rehabilitated and are dangerous death traps that are severely toxic to the neighboring communities.
We respectfully recommend that the committee asks: The government to ensure the monitoring of, and the full implementation of, the
provisions of the Mining Code, particularly in reference to Article 279 (2) (a) (b) (c) regarding the processes of harmonious co-existing between mining companies and the neighboring communities.
The government to control the treatment of toxic waste and calls mining companies to acknowledge their social corporate responsibility.
The government to stop the environmental degradation due to mining activities and to ensure clean drinking water and uncontaminated food for the population.
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APPENDIX: Pictures from the grassroots in Kolwezi, DRC, 2016.
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