Summary

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2009, but the ratification process still has not been completed. The DRC has participated in several meetings of the convention, most recently in May 2022. It was absent from the vote on the key annual United Nations resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.

The DRC provided a voluntary Article 7 transparency report for the convention in May 2022, which confirmed that it has not produced cluster munitions and possesses no stocks of the weapons, including for research and training purposes. Cluster munitions were used in the DRC in the past, but the actors responsible have never been conclusively identified.

Policy

The DRC signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 18 March 2009.

The current status of the DRC’s ratification of the convention is not known. There has been little progress to complete the process since the Senate adopted ratification legislation on 28 November 2013.[1] In 2015, the DRC indicated that the law was awaiting review by the Constitutional Court.[2]

The DRC reported in May 2022 that it had not adopted implementation legislation for the Convention on Cluster Munitions as it had not yet ratified the convention.[3] The DRC also reported that it had adopted a Strategic Plan for the Fight Against Landmines in January 2022, which also covers its implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The DRC provided a voluntary Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 30 May 2022, covering activities from 2013 to 2022. The DRC submitted three previous voluntary transparency reports, in 2011–2014.[4]

The DRC actively participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and strongly supported a comprehensive ban, as well as the inclusion of provisions on international cooperation and assistance. Due to inadequate signing authority, the DRC could not sign the convention in Oslo in December 2008, but signed three months later at the UN in New York.[5]

The DRC has participated in formal meetings of the convention, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties, held in Geneva in September 2019.[6] It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021. However, representatives from the DRC participated in intersessional meetings of the convention in May 2022 as well as a regional workshop on the convention in Abuja, Nigeria in March 2022.[7]

In December 2021, the DRC was absent from the vote on a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urged states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[8] It voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention in 2015–2016 and 2018–2020, but was absent from the vote in 2017.

The DRC has elaborated its views on several important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. In 2012, the government’s national mine action coordinator said that the DRC agreed with the views of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) that the provisions of the convention forbid transit, foreign stockpiling, and investment in the production of cluster munitions, and also forbid assistance with the use of cluster munitions in joint military operations with states not party.[9]

The DRC is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In May 2022, the DRC reported that it has not produced cluster munitions and possesses no stocks, including for research and training purposes.[10] This confirms the information provided in previous Article 7 transparency reports, as well as statements made by officials stating that the DRC has never produced cluster munitions and does not possess a stockpile.[11]

The DRC has not commented on evidence suggesting that it may have received a shipment of Chilean-manufactured cluster munitions from Zimbabwe either in or after July 2013.[12]

The DRC states that it has never used cluster munitions, but that “foreign armies” have used cluster munitions in the DRC in the past.[13] The DRC’s cluster munition contamination includes BL-755, BLU-63, BLU-55, ShAOB-0.5, and PM1-type submunitions.[14] Its 2022 Article 7 transparency report uses the stockpile destruction form to report that a total of 3,041 submunitions were cleared and destroyed in the 2013–2022 period as a result of demining activities (2,793 Chilean-made PM1 submunitions and 248 US-made Mk118 Rockeye submunitions).[15]

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Treaty Status | Management & Coordination | Impact (contamination & casualties) | Addressing the Impact (land release, risk education, victim assistance)

Country Summary

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is contaminated with antipersonnel landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), as a result of armed conflict involving neighboring countries, militias, and non-state armed groups (NSAGs) since the late 1990s.[1] In 2011, the DRC reported that mine/ERW contamination existed across the country, although ERW contamination was a more extensive problem than mine contamination. Cluster munition remnants contamination has also been discovered in the DRC, but these areas have not yet been surveyed. In 2018, a resurgence of armed conflict resulted in new ERW contamination, particularly in eastern and central regions.

In 2011, the DRC requested a 26-month extension to its Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 clearance deadline to understand the extent of remaining contamination, and in 2014 requested a further six-year extension to 1 January 2021. However, the DRC did not meet this deadline and submitted a third extension request in September 2020, for an additional 18 months. This was approved at the Mine Ban Treaty Eighteenth Meeting of States Parties, which was held virtually in November 2020.

Risk education in the DRC is carried out by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community volunteers, who conduct risk education sessions, mark hazardous areas, and convey alerts to the national authorities.

The DRC is responsible for a large number of mine/ERW victims, and reported 1,786 survivors as of the end of 2020.[2] Despite existing measures benefiting mine/ERW survivors—such as free access to medical care and prostheses, and tax exemptions for companies which employ a mine survivor—most survivors are not aware of these rights. Operators reported that funding for victim assistance was scarce.[3]

Treaty Status

Treaty status overview[4]

Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 clearance deadline

The DRC’s initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 clearance deadline was 1 November 2012, but a 26-month extension was requested to conduct national survey to better understand the extent of the remaining contamination, enabling the DRC to submit a follow-up extension request in 2014.[5]

The DRC did not meet its extended Article 5 deadline of January 2021, and submitted a third extension request in September 2020, which was approved, setting a new deadline of 1 July 2022.[6] The DRC has reported that it is on track to meet this deadline, provided that sufficient funding is available and security and health conditions improve.[7] This projection is based on a budget of US$3 million and a collaboration between three mine clearance operators and the Armed Forces of the DRC (Forces armées de la république démocratique du Congo, FARDC).[8] In February 2020, DanChurchAid (DCA) took responsibility for clearance of three quarters of the remaining contaminated areas.[9]

In July 2021, the DRC submitted a fourth extension request for a period of 3.5 years until 31 December 2025, to clear the remaining 33 areas of 0.12km².[10] This extension request is largely a repeat of the 2020 extension request, indicating little progress has been made.

Management and Coordination

Mine action

Mine action management and coordination overview[11]

The Congolese Mine Action Center (Centre Congolais de Lutte Antimines, CCLAM) was formed in 2012, with support from the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center (UNMACC) and the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). CCLAM took on responsibility from UNMAS for coordination of the mine action program in the DRC in 2016; though UNMAS continues to provide guidance and support.

Strategies and policies

The DRC’s National Mine Action Strategy for 2018–2019, developed with support from the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), UNMAS, and the Government of Japan, has expired. The DRC reported in August 2020, and again in February 2021, that it was in the process of developing a new national mine action strategy.[12]

Priorities were established in the expired National Mine Action Strategy, and CCLAM issues mine action tasks according to these priorities.[13]

Mine action is integrated into the security governance section of the DRC’s National Development Plan.[14]

Information management

CCLAM assumed responsibility from UNMAS for information management in January 2016. The alerts received from mine action operators and local communities are recorded by CCLAM in the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database.[15]

Gender and diversity

There is a Gender Unit within CCLAM’s advocacy department. It aims to ensure the mobilization and inclusion of women in mine action, to ensure the participation of both women and men in the implementation of all five pillars of mine action, and to promote the inclusion of women in both administrative and operational activities.[16]

Risk education management and coordination

Risk education management and coordination overview[17]

Coordination

The National Risk Education Program, led by the head of CCLAM’s risk education department, meets on a quarterly basis.[18]

Strategies

A National Risk Education Strategy was included within the National Mine Action Strategy 2018–2019, which has expired.[19]

Victim assistance management and coordination

Victim assistance management and coordination overview[20]

Note: ERW=explosive remnants of war; N/R=not reported.

*The National Mine Action Strategic Plan 2018–2019 referred to victim assistance in its first strategic objective. The plan has expired.

Laws and policies

The constitution of the DRC prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities and provides specific protections. However, the government did not enforce provisions effectively, and persons with disabilities often found it difficult to obtain employment, education, or government services. Laws do not mandate access to buildings or government services for persons with disabilities, and persons with disabilities suffer social stigmatization.[21] The Ministry of Social Affairs, responsible for persons with disabilities and other vulnerable persons, was established in August 2019.

The DRC joined the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in September 2015. However, the DRC has not adopted national laws to implement its provisions. A proposal for new legislation to protect persons with disabilities in the DRC, and promote their rights, was drafted in 2012 with the involvement of NGOs, but has not yet been adopted.[22] In 2019, a bill implementing the CRPD was submitted to parliament for adoption.[23]

In June 2016, the Ministry of Social Affairs adopted a National Strategic Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Persons with Disabilities.[24] The plan expired in 2020.

Impact

Contamination

Contamination overview[25]

Note: CHA=confirmed hazardous area; ERW=explosive remnants of war; and SHA=suspected hazardous area; ERW=explosive remnants of war.

Landmine contamination

The DRC is contaminated by antipersonnel mines and ERW as a result of armed conflict involving neighboring states, militias, and NSAGs, which has worsened since the late 1990s.[26]

Mine contamination limits movement of populations and access to water, food, shelter, and health services. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees are particularly vulnerable to the threat posed by mines/ERW.[27]

Remaining mine contamination in the DRC is low, but primarily affects the provinces of Ituri and North-Kivu, which are difficult to access due to the presence of NSAGs and the Ebola epidemic. The DRC also reported that some contaminated areas in North-Ubangi, Tanganyika, and Tshuapa provinces were difficult to access, and therefore will require more time and resources to clear.[28]

In addition, the Aru territory in Ituri province, and the Dungu territory in Haut-Uele province, are still to be surveyed.[29] These two territories were not surveyed as part of the national survey in 2013 due to security concerns.[30]

Improvised mine contamination was suspected in the provinces of North-Kivu and Ituri.[31] Surveys could not be conducted due to ongoing security concerns, and the extent of the contamination there is unknown.[32] Various types of improvised landmines have been reported in the DRC, with some devices described as ‘‘pressure-release’’ mines after survivors’ testimonies indicated some devices were activated by the contact or weight of a person.[33]

Cluster munition remnants contamination

The expired National Mine Action Strategic Plan 2018–2019 stated that in addition to mines/ERW, “some areas contaminated by submunitions have also been reported but the areas affected remain negligible.”[34]

In August 2020, the DRC reported that several areas contained cluster munition remnants, although these areas had not been surveyed and their size was not yet determined. Cluster munition remnants contamination has been identified in at least five provinces within the DRC: Ituri, Maniema, South-Kivu, Tanganyika, and Tshuapa.[35]

ERW contamination

The DRC is affected by ERW due to years of conflict involving neighboring states, militias, and NSAGs. These conflicts have also resulted in a large quantity of abandoned explosive ordnance.[36] ERW contamination severely limits access to agricultural land, hunting and fishing areas, water collection points, and roads.[37]

In 2020, explosive ordnance continued to pose a significant risk to civilians in the DRC, as armed conflict intensified in the east. Known ERW contamination covered a total area of 0.06km². ERW contamination was reported at firing ranges in Mbandaka, Kisangani, and Kitona.[38] A small area of ERW contamination, totaling 206m², was also identified in Tanganyika province in 2020.[39]

Casualties

Casualties overview[40]

Note: ERW=explosive remnants of war.

Casualties in 2020

In 2020, 13 mine/ERW casualties were recorded in the DRC. As in past years since 2010, children constituted a majority of casualties, with 10 of the casualties being minors. Ten of the incidents that resulted in casualties during 2020 involved ERW, while three occurred due to the explosion of an improvised mine.

Casualty data for the DRC significantly under-reports the true number of people killed and injured, due to the absence of a national data collection system for mine/ERW casualties and because parts of the country remain inaccessible due to lack of infrastructure and security constraints.[41] In 2021, CCLAM reported that identifying mine/ERW victims was challenging.[42] While CCLAM reported 14 mine/ERW victims in 2020, the Mine Action Working Group recorded 52 civilian mine/ERW victims in the first half of 2020 alone. This CCLAM total includes eight casualties from an incident in which a hand grenade was thrown. These casualties were not included in the Monitor total as it was not clear that it was an ERW item.[43] CCLAM reported a total of 2,936 mine/ERW casualties for all time, as of February 2021.[44]

Cluster munition remnant casualties

Unexploded cluster munition remnants have resulted in 207 casualties in the DRC, for all time.[45] The last unexploded submunition casualties in the DRC were reported in 2010.

Addressing the Impact

Mine action

Clearance operators[46]

Clearance

Land release overview[47]

Note: ERW=explosive remnants of war.

Land release

Landmines

There remains a need to conduct survey to determine the total extent of contamination in the DRC, particularly in areas affected by recent conflict.[48] In November 2019, the DRC and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) launched a reassessment of confirmed hazardous areas (CHA) and suspected hazardous areas (SHA) across 12 regions.[49]

The DRC reported that 0.02km² was cleared in 2020, while technical and non-technical survey led to the release of 0.06km².[50]

Cluster munition remnants

During clearance operations in 2020, 51 cluster munition remnants were cleared and destroyed in the DRC. The DRC reported a need to strengthen the capacities of its coordination and operational personnel regarding the clearance of cluster munition remnants.[51]

The 2013 national survey had identified two areas contaminated with cluster munition remnants, in the provinces of Ituri and Tanganyika, covering 0.02km². These areas were subsequently cleared and a total of 2,688 cluster munition remnants were cleared and destroyed.[52]

Deminer safety

In 2020, several violent incidents involving deminers were reported in the DRC, including the murder of a team leader working for The Development Initiative (TDI) in North-Kivu province.[53]

Residual contamination

A capacity-building program, which began in 2011 in coordination with UNMAS and international clearance operators, aims to strengthen the capacity of FARDC and the Congolese National Police (Police nationale congolaise, PNC) to undertake demining operations.[54]

Border cooperation

Lindu—a mined area in Kongo Central province—is located about 2km away from the border with Angola. No agreement has been signed between Angola and the DRC for clearance of the area.[55]

Risk education

Risk education operators overview[56]

Note: IDP=Internally Displaced Persons.

*Other national organizations providing risk education in the DRC, not listed in the table, include: the DRC Red Cross, Development Action and Aid to the Destitute (Action de Développement intègre et d’aide aux Démunis, ADIAD), Synergy of Peasant Organizations for Integral Development (Synergie des Organisations Paysannes de Développement Intégral, SYOPADI), Concreate Action for Mine Action (Action Concrète pour la Lutte Antimines, ACOLAM), Congo Organization for Development, Education and Environmental Protection, Congo Organisation Pour le Développement, l'Education et la Protection de l'Environnemen, COODEPE), Development and Social Welfare Action (Agence de Développement Économique et Social, ADES), and the Association for the Development and Supervision of Peasants of South-Ubangi (Association pour le Développement et Encadrement des paysants du Sud-Ubangi, ADEPSU).

A network of NGOs and community volunteers ensures that risk education efforts in the DRC are sustainable, marks hazardous areas, and conveys alerts to national authorities.[57]

Beneficiary numbers

Beneficiaries of risk education in 2020[58]

Beneficiary numbers were collected according to the Standard Beneficiary Definitions.[59]

Implementation

Target groups

The primary target groups for risk education in the DRC are communities in conflict areas and in regions worst affected by mines/ERW, young people, women, refugees, IDPs and returnees, staff members of international NGOs, medical personnel, and members of peacekeeping missions.[60]

In the DRC, children are particularly vulnerable to mines/ERW, due to their curiosity and lack of awareness of danger. Women are also vulnerable, as their daily activities often include traveling and searching for goods and materials needed for survival of the household. IDPs and refugees are also at risk as they are often unaware of contamination in the areas where they have taken refuge.[61]

Delivery methods

In addition to risk education sessions, risk education was provided via text messages, social media, radio, and television. It was also integrated into demining activities, and presented an opportunity to identify victims. There was no assessment of the DRC’s risk education program in 2020.[62]

Major developments in 2020

The Mine Action Working Group reported that Tanganyika province, and most of Haut-Katanga province, were not covered by risk education and non-technical survey activities.[63]

Victim assistance

Victim assistance operators overview[64]

Major developments in 2020

The security situation in the DRC remained volatile and conflicts intensified in eastern provinces.[65] A surge in violence in the first half of 2020 resulted in further displacement, and left many people without access to basic services.[66]

The first reference center for physiotherapy and orthopedic services in the DRC, constructed with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was handed over to national authorities but had not yet started operating.[67]

The five ICRC-supported physical rehabilitation centers in the DRC—located in Bukavu, Goma, Kinshasa, and Uvira—suspended services in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[68]

The DRC continued to report a significant decrease in funding for victim assistance in 2020, and the activities of several organizations providing victim assistance stopped. There has been little funding for victim assistance in the DRC since 2012.[69] New mine/ERW survivors, particularly in eastern areas, do not receive any assistance.[70] A rehabilitation and psychosocial support program run by Humanity & Inclusion (HI) in North-Kivu ended in February 2020 due to lack of funding.[71]

Some mine/ERW survivors in North-Kivu received support through the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (UNCERF) in 2019.[72]

Persons with disabilities continue to face obstacles in accessing basic services and information in the DRC. They suffer from stigma, discrimination, and social exclusion.[73]

Needs assessment

Identifying mine/ERW survivors in the DRC remained challenging, due to a lack of financial and logistical means to reach survivors and the unavailability of victim assistance services.[74]

Medical care and rehabilitation

Access to quality healthcare remained limited in the DRC.[75] The health system is weak, while the DRC lacks health infrastructure and basic social services.[76] The health system was further strained by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.[77] The costs of medical care and prostheses for mine survivors are covered by the state.[78]

Socio-economic and psychosocial inclusion

Providing psychological support remained a significant challenge in the DRC, as has been the case for several years. Psychological and socio-economic inclusion programs remained insufficient and were only available in North-Kivu province.[79]

The Polus Center for Social and Economic Development, together with partners and United States (US) funding, created a private-public partnership, the Lake Kivu Coffee Alliance, which provided vocational training within the coffee industry for mine/ERW survivors, physical rehabilitation, and prosthetics. The initiative also supports a local mine survivors’ association. In 2020, a coffee tasting lab and training center was under construction in partnership with the University of Buffalo.[80]

Although the Ministry of Education has increased its special education outreach efforts in recent years, fewer than 6,000 children with disabilities were reached in 2020.[81]

There is a tax exemption in the DRC for any company which employs a mine survivor.[82]

Cross-cutting

Few provisions exist to reach mine/ERW survivors living in rural and remote areas, and there was no specific assistance for child survivors.[83]

Policy

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 2 May 2002, becoming a State Party on 1 November 2002. The National Commission to Fight Antipersonnel Mines was created in 2002.[1]

The DRC enacted national legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty in 2011. Law No. 11/007, Implementing the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on their Destruction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was promulgated by the president on 9 July 2011 and published in the official journal on 15 July 2011.[2] The law was first adopted in December 2010 and a final version adopted by Parliament on 16 June 2011.[3]

Law No. 11/007 prohibits the development, manufacture, production, acquisition, stockpiling, conservation, supply, sale, import, export, transfer, and use of antipersonnel landmines or their components, and also prohibits assistance, encouragement, or inducement in these activities.[4] The law establishes penal sanctions for persons violating its provisions of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of CDF10–20 million (about US$11,000–$22,000). The law also provides penal sanctions for legal entities (companies) guilty of violations of CDF10–20 million (about US$11,000–$22,000) and contains provisions on victim assistance.[5]

The DRC regularly attends meetings of the treaty. It most recently participated in the Nineteenth Meeting of States Parties held virtually in November 2021, and the intersessional meetings held in Geneva in June 2022, where it presented on its Article 5 extension request.[6] The DRC also attended the Fourth Review Conference in Oslo in November 2019. The DRC provided its most recent updated Article 7 transparency report in 2022.

The DRC is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). It is a signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, transfer, use, stockpile destruction, and retention

The DRC is not known to have produced or exported antipersonnel landmines. While government forces have used antipersonnel mines in the past, the Monitor has not received any allegations of such use since the DRC acceded to the treaty in 2002. There were credible allegations of use of antipersonnel landmines in the DRC by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) until at least 2004, and by Rwandan and Ugandan government forces in the country in 2000.[7]

In May 2006, the DRC informed States Parties that it had completed the destruction of all 2,864 stockpiled antipersonnel mines that it was able to identify, thus fulfilling its treaty obligation to destroy stocks by 1 November 2006. The DRC stated that if more stockpiled antipersonnel mines were discovered, then they would be destroyed in a timely fashion.[8]

Previously, the DRC has destroyed newly discovered, seized, or turned-in antipersonnel mines on many occasions. It reported an additional 198 mines destroyed in 2006; 936 in 2007; 631 in 2008; 101 in 2009; and 70 in 2010.[9] In its Article 7 report submitted in 2022, the DRC reported small numbers of mines destroyed in recent years, though the context is unclear.[10]

In March 2010, a DRC government official informed the Monitor that there were some live antipersonnel mines retained for training at the Military Engineers’ School in Likasi, but the types and numbers have not yet been reported.[11] Since 2011, the DRC has reported “not applicable” on Form D of its Article 7 report, on mines retained for training or research purposes. In 2009, as in its previous report, the DRC stated that information on retained mines was “not yet available.”[12]

Landmine use by non-state armed groups

NSAGs remain active in the country.[13] Sporadic use of antipersonnel landmines has been reported by the Monitor in the DRC the past.[14] In December 2021, a woman escaping a camp of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) was injured by an antipersonnel landmine laid on the perimeter of the camp. Other incidents of mine use attributed to the ADF occurred during late 2021. In November, September, and August 2021 at least four farmers were killed in incidents across different areas of North Kivu province by antipersonnel landmines alleged to have been laid by the ADF. In July 2021, two children in Ituri province were killed by an explosive device allegedly laid by the ADF.[15] The Monitor had previously reported on mine use by the ADF in November 2005.[16]

In 2020, two donors contributed a total of US$3.4 million toward mine action in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which represents a 51% decrease from 2019.[1]

The DRC also received in-kind assistance from Switzerland valued at $1.5 million (CHF1.2 million) to support mine clearance operations.[2]

The DRC has never reported any national contributions to its mine action program, but in its Third Article 5 deadline Extension Request, submitted in September 2020, the DRC committed to providing approximately $564,000 from 2021–2022.[3] No details on its level of contribution in 2020 were available.

International contributions: 2020[4]

Note: N/A=not available.

In the five-year period from 2016–2020, international contributions to mine action activities in the DRC totaled approximately $30 million, an average of some $6 million per year.

In 2020, DRC’s Mine Ban Treaty extension request projected that a budget of $3.9 million would be required for 2021–2022, of which $2.4 million would go to demining and survey operations and $0.9 million to risk education activities, while the remainder would be used for coordination from its mine action center.[5]

Summary of international contributions: 2016–2020[6]