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Summary: On 18 January, the Committee on the Rights of the Child considered the report of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on how the country is implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on children involved in armed conflict.
Below is a summary of the Democratic Republic of Congo's review by the Committee in Geneva. State's comments Marie-Therese Kenge Ngomba Tshilombayi, Cabinet Director at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said the rights of children had been seriously harmed during the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which millions of people had been killed. However tireless efforts were being carried out to ensure that children had full access to all of their rights, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo was among the few countries that had not only ratified the Convention but also its two Optional Protocols. She said children were present among the troops, but they were not recruited by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but rather by armed groups resisting the peace process. Together with international organizations the Government had removed over 30,000 children from armed groups. The National Bureau on the Demobilization of Child Soldiers was in operation and enforced enrolment of children under the age of 18 no longer happened. A person guilty of enrolling a child into a military organization could be punished with imprisonment of 10 to 20 years. CRC Committee comments Yanghee Lee, Committee Rapporteur for the report, commended legislative reform including the Child Protection Act of 2009, Ratification of the Central African Convention for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons and endorsement of the Paris Commitments to protect children from unlawful recruitment by armed forces. However, she said the Democratic Republic of the Congo had the highest number of children used and recruited by armed groups and the national military force of any country in the world. One in seven children died before the age of five, half of all children under five suffered from stunted development, the Democratic Republic of the Congo ranked 168 on the global corruption index and there was concern over the continued decrease of resources allocated to social sectors while 30 per cent of State expenditure was on defence. Ms Lee also expressed serious concern about continued impunity for senior military commanders. Concluding Observations The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the report of the Democratic Republic of the Congo towards the end of its three-week session, which will conclude on 3 February 2012.
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