Democratic Republic of Congo

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addresses the African Union Commission at the African Union Commission headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 13, 2011. (Pool New/Courtesy Reuters) On Monday, the State department released its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. The study uses a three tier system to rank countries based on compliance with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA). More importantly, it includes in-depth evaluations of human trafficking in 184 countries as well as policy recommendations, victims’ stories, and “TIP Report Heroes." The Guardian (UK) produced a useful interactive map showing each country’s ranking, which clearly illustrates that human trafficking continues to be a serious problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Eight African countries received tier three rankings—meaning they do not comply with the TVPA standards, make no effort to address the problem, and, as per the TVPA, are subject to U.S. sanctions. Only one country—Nigeria—received a tier one ranking, which indicates it meets the minimum TVPA standards. However, the report says that Nigeria is not doing enough to address the magnitude of the problem. For example, the report notes that the Nigerian agency responsible for dealing with trafficking, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Matters, despite identifying between twenty and forty thousand Nigerian women forced into prostitution in Mali, has not yet engaged Malian officials to rescue the victims and arrest the traffickers. In contrast, the Democratic Republic of Congo received a tier three ranking. The report notes that much of the trafficking is internal and cites that armed groups outside the control of the central government as well as the Congolese national army (FARDC) use forced labor for mineral extraction and military operations. As a result, the first recommendation in the report for Congo focuses on prosecuting the military and other official’s involvement in human trafficking, which highlights the importance of reforming Congo’s security services. South Africa, a middle-income country, received a tier two ranking, below Nigeria’s. This ranking means that it does not fully comply with TVPA minimum standards but is making significant efforts to address these issues. The report emphasizes heavily the issue of sex trafficking, both into and out of South Africa. As Secretary Clinton points out in a recent statement, human trafficking disproportionately affects women, which makes combating this global challenge particularly salient in South Africa.

Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila attends the swearing-in ceremony of Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni at the Kololo Airstrip grounds in the capital Kampala, May 12, 2011. (STR New/Courtesy Reuters) A Congolese military court recently tried and convicted the accused murderers of Congolese human rights activist, Floribert Chebeya. The four perpetrators, who were tried in absentia, were sentenced to death. Another three defendants were acquitted and one was jailed. This outcome provides a small amount of closure to Chebeya’s murder, and contrasts with the usual culture of impunity that prevails among Congo’s security services. As the Kabila government prepares for November elections, for which there have already been reports of intimidation, the international community will welcome any steps to reduce human rights abuses by the security services. To be credible, the Kabila government will need to follow up the Chebeya convictions by prosecuting the perpetrators of numerous other murders, and act quickly on any future incidents. Congo has a history of grim human rights abuses, and a number of prominent civil society activists and journalists have been murdered without credible investigations. Chebeya, the director of Voice of the Voiceless, considered one of Congo’s most important human rights organizations, disappeared on June 1, 2010, on his way to meet with Congo police inspector general John Numbi. The next day, his body was found in the back seat of his car. According to Human Rights Watch, the government allowed only limited access to Chebeya body and did not immediately begin investigating the crime.

A Ghanaian peacekeeper from United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) stands guard in front of the local port where rebels came onshore on Easter Sunday as part of an attack that took over the airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo's northern Equateur province of Mbandaka, April 12, 2010. (Katrina Manson/Courtesy Reuters) Presidential and legislative elections are scheduled in The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in late November 2011. However, myriad ongoing conflicts, endemic corruption, human rights atrocities (especially involving rape), and anti-government uprisings and rebellions sometimes abetted by outside states make Congo one of the most challenging political and security environments in all of Africa. For insight into the DRC’s present and future challenges, I highly recommend  the CFR’s Center for Preventive Action new Contingency Planning Memorandum (CPM), Crisis in the Congo. Authored by Congo expert Joshua Marks, it identifies and analyzes the potential warning signs of  new crises; develops the most plausible post-election scenarios; and crafts specific, actionable bilateral policy recommendations for the United States government. Crisis in the Congo is available in its entirety here.

Female victims of sexual violence listen to UN humanitarian chief John Holmes during his tour of Panzi hospital in Bukavu, South Kivu province in eastern Congo, September 6, 2007. (James Akena/Courtesy Reuters) The American Journal of Public Health has released a study on rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The findings are horrifying: twelve percent of Congolese women were raped at some point in their lifetime. Further, the report notes that rape is far more prevalent than previously thought in western Congo and within households. The study is gated so you have to be a subscriber to the journal to get a copy. Not all of the ground covered by the report is new. The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (another great resource) issued a report last year, "Now, The World Is Without Me: An Investigation of Sexual Violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo," which also discusses the prevalence of rape within the civilian population. You can read an interesting interview with one of the authors here, which illustrates the complexities of discussing rape. Unfortunately, most western media headlines about Congo usually focus on rape without much attention to context. However, as Emma Fanning of Oxfam notes, rape often overshadows many other accompanying problems. The regular and systematic looting of villages is a good case in point. Recognizing and understanding the broader context of violence against women (and also children) is essential to addressing the issue.

[cetsEmbedGmap src=http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=215110937314986215762.00049f17e81ebea2b8dc9&ll=-0.878872,23.90625&spn=104.74468,228.339844&z=3 width=570 height=425 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no] The red box indicates the approximate boundaries of the Great Lakes region. Zoom in and out for a better look. The Council on Foreign Relations Africa program is one of the sponsors of Search for Common Ground’s Great Lakes Policy Forum, a leading venue to discuss a range of policy issues related to the region. The upcoming March 24 meeting in Washington, DC—“Human Security in the DRC: Seeking Solutions from the Ground Up”—will bring together experts to address the ongoing physical and sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Panel members will include Susan Braden, Nita Evele, Judithe Registere, and Sandra Melon (moderator). They will seek to address the following questions: 1) Moving beyond the grim descriptions of human rights abuses, what is the role of civil society in protection, fostering stability and building peace? 2) What policy mechanisms are available in the short and long terms to address these critical issues at the national and international level? The meeting is open to all, but comments are not for attribution. In order to register for the event, please follow the link here.

Members of Ivory Coast's Young Patriots youth movement take part in a demonstration to show support for incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo near the U.S. embassy in Abidjan January 25, 2011. (Thierry Gouegnon/Courtesy Reuters) Human Rights Watch researchers spoke with more than 100 victims of, and witnesses to, the violence, including killings by militiamen with bricks and clubs, and sexual assaults in front of family members. Witnesses described seeing family members or neighbors dragged from their homes, mosques, restaurants, or the street into waiting vehicles. Many were "disappeared," including some victims who were later found dead. While the international media has referenced increasing violence in Cote d’Ivoire following the disputed elections between incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, details have been sparse. Human Rights Watch changes that with the release of its preliminary investigation of post-electoral violence. As suspected, HRW reports that much of the violence has been perpetrated by forces loyal to Gbagbo against Ouattara supporters. And in many cases, attackers have made it abundantly clear to their victims that intimidation is the goal, with statements such as “Go tell Alassane it was us who did this to you.” Read the whole thing here.

United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) troops from Zambia patrol the Abyei area in the wake of the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on the borders of Abyei in this picture released on July 27, 2009. (Ho New/courtesy Reuters) Along with the rest of the world, we are watching Sunday’s referendum. There is justified optimism that the vote will be better than most of us thought even only a few weeks ago. A referendum is easier to mount than an election – because the choice is between yes to independence or no. But the mechanical and technical challenges appear to have been met. Everybody expects the vote to be overwhelmingly in favor of independence. But as Cote d’Ivoire shows, votes do not always resolve political crises, and most the fundamental issues foreseen by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement have not been addressed – largely because of Khartoum’s foot dragging. I will be watching Abyei especially closely. Both North and South claim it, and it is a territory where Muslim pastoralists and Christian-Animist peasant farmers meet. Worse, it is also, apparently, awash with oil.

The resurgence of polio last week in Congo-Brazzaville illustrates the long over-hang consequences of civil war and political instability. Pointe Noire, the epicenter of the current outbreak, is a port city largely isolated from the rest of the country, and the surrounding region has long been plagued by poverty and insecurity. The new polio cases are concentrated among those between fifteen and seventy years of age, rather than small children, as is more common in similar outbreaks. The strain of the disease in Pointe Noire appears to be especially virulent, and the mortality rate is high. As of November 9, there were 184 new cases, and 85 deaths. International polio vaccination efforts likely missed the current victims when they were children because of insecurity and population movements in Congo-Brazzaville and in adjacent Angola and Congo-Kinshasa. When local conditions allowed vaccination to resume, the focus most likely was on small children, the usual protocol. Identifying all or most of those missed by the vaccination campaign is a major challenge, and inevitably, some are missed. In contrast, one may recall the resurgence of polio Nigeria in 2003-2004, where it was the actual suspension of polio vaccination that led to the spread of the disease to other parts of the country and to other countries as far away as Indonesia . Popular political and Muslim religious opposition to the campaign resulted in the state governments suspending the campaign against a backdrop of deep suspicion of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government in Abuja, which was closely associated with the polio eradication campaign. Only with difficulty did the Nigeria vaccination program resume, and pressure from international Islamic organizations played a crucial role. While polio remains in Nigeria, the WHO estimates that the number of new cases in only ten. The outbreak of polio in Pointe Noire, like its earlier resurgence in northern Nigeria, highlights the importance of the WHO’s effort to eradicate polio from the face of the earth, as it has small pox. Otherwise, so long as there is political instability and internal conflict, there is the risk that polio will reassert itself. (Photo: Afolabi Sotunde/courtesy Reuters)                                  

With the death toll in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo likely exceeding six million, the UN peacekeeping force needs beefing up, and both the Rwandan and Congolese governments should punish nationals guilty of violence against civilians, says CFR’s John Campbell.

On July 30, the Democratic Republic of the Congo will hold its first multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections in four decades. Many hope this will be the country’s first fully democratic election, but a host of challenges—including infrastructure, security, and communication—have experts hoping the Congolese people will merely accept the election’s results.