Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1989
CONGO
The People's Republic of the Congo is officially a
Marxist-Leninist state governed by an elite group of civilian
and military officials through the single legal party, the
Congolese Labor Party (PCT) . President Denis Sassou-Nguesso,
Chief of State and Head of Government since 1979, serves as
President of the 75-member PCT Central Committee. The
President nominates the other 12 members of the PCT Political
Bureau, the key policymaking group, whose selection is
approved by the Central Committee. Under Sassou, Central
Committee membership has usually reflected a balance among
Congo's rival southern, northern, and central ethnic groups.
The military and security services are firmly under the
control of the northerners, who are the ultimate arbiters of
power in Congo and have dominated its Government since 1968.
The need to maintain a consensus among the competing regions
and ethnic groups has provided a check on arbitrary and overly
pronorthern policies. Congo's National Assembly has limited
powers, but it has recently begun to serve as a sounding board
on social and economic issues and to draw representatives of
key interest groups outside the PCT into the political arena.
The security apparatus, which is under the direction of the
Presidency, is headed by the State Security Organization
(DGSE) and is patterned after those in Eastern Europe. Its
principal objective is to protect the State against all
possible dissident activity. As of late 1989, the military
forces were no longer routinely used for internal security
purposes because the police have been reorganized, removed
from the Ministry of Defense, and given special riot and crowd
control training. PCT "core groups" are in all ministries,
labor organizations, mass organizations, and urban districts.
They only intermittently attain their stated goal of
monitoring the activities of workers and neighbors.
The Congolese economy is highly dependent on oil, and
declining oil prices since 1985 have forced the Government to
cut its budget expenditures, cooperate with the International
Monetary Fund and World Bank in formulating a structural
adjustment program, and to seek debt relief measures. In
addition, since 1985 the Government has followed a policy of
liberalization of the economy and has moved toward a truly
nonaligned foreign policy. At the Fourth PCT Congress in July
1989, the party called for and adopted an economic program
emphasizing administrative reform, agricultural
self-sufficiency, privatization of state enterprises, and
encouragement of foreign investment. Despite its Socialist
policies, the PCT has never forbidden private property and
enterprise, and it has encouraged the indigenous commercial
sector in the past few years.
Human rights remained circumscribed in 1989. Most Congolese
live their lives with little government interference as long
as they do not criticize the Government. The principal human
rights problems include mistreatment and torture of detainees;
arbitrary detentions; lack of fair trial; discrimination
against women; and tight restrictions on freedom of speech and
press, assembly and association, worker rights, and the right
of citizens to change their government.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for and Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
There were no reports of such killings.
b. Disappearance
There were no reported cases of disappearance for political
motives.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The practice of beating suspects at police stations and at
state security centers in the course of interrogations is
common. The public or the police frequently beat thieves who
have been caught in the act of stealing. Political detainees
are held incommunicado; Ammnesty International (AI), in
various statements and reports, has expressed concern about
the use of torture to extract information from detainees held
after the 1987 coup attempt. At the same time, several
political prisoners held incommunicado in the past are now
leading normal lives, including as government ministers.
Prison conditions in general are very poor.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Constitution provides protection against arbitrary
indictment, arrest, and detention. But in practice a warrant
is not required to make arrests. Under the Code of Penal
Procedure a detainee must be brought before an investigative
judge within 3 days of arrest. The judge may then order
detention for a maximum period of 6 months, after which the
detainee must be charged or released. This law, however, does
not apply in cases involving security of the State, and
political detainees have been held for lengthy periods without
being brought before a judge or charged, e.g., the Government
held Georges Mf aouta-Kitoko, Christophe Samba, and Florent
Kihoulou without charge from 1986 to 1988 for belonging to an
independent political discussion group and writing a tract
calling for a "new society." The trial of those accused of
participation in the 1982 Brazzaville bombings did not take
place until 1986, and some of the accused were held
incommunicado for several years. A similar pattern appears
with respect to those accused in the 1987 coup attempt.
Despite government steps to increase the number of magistrates
and improve procedures, the administrative processing of
regular criminal cases is slow, and persons awaiting trial are
often held for lengthy periods. Whether a detainee is
formally charged usually depends upon the seriousness of the
crime and the economic situation of the family. For lesser
crimes, the person is usually taken to jail, where he may be
beaten and held for a few days, then released on bail pending
a trial which may never take place. A person accused of a
serious crime (e.g., murder, rape) is held in prison until the
trial, which may be held months or even years later.
The number of political detainees or prisoners in 1989 was
unavailable. In 1987, according to AI , the Government
arrested 60 or 70 people in connection with an abortive coup
attempt by former army captain Pierre Anga and supporters with
alleged ties to President Sassou's predecessor, Joachim
Yhombi-Opango. The Government officially acknowledged the
arrest of four military men and two civilians for alleged
participation in the coup plot. Yhombi-Opango, Colonel Jean
Michel Ebaka, and Lt . Colonel Eboundit, the ranking military
officers arrested, remained in detention at a government
housing complex at the end of 1989. After one coup
participant was tracked down and killed by government troops
in July 1988, a number of his relatives and other associates
were arrested. The Government claims to have released some of
these persons. In November 1989, it announced the release of
some 40 civilians implicated in the 1987 coup attempt but has
refused to reveal the names of those released or still in
detention.
In 1988 the President announced an amnesty for most persons
held for political offenses since 1963, excepting those
arrested in connection with the 1987 coup plot. Despite this
announcement, it appeared that at least some other political
detainees remained in prison at the end of the year.
There were no known instances of exile being used as a means
of political control in 1989. With regard to forced or
compulsory labor, see Section 6.c.
e. Denial of a Fair Public Trial
The legal system is not free from political interference. The
Constitution establishes the Supreme Court at the apex of the
judiciary, but in practice this Court is an arm of the
executive branch rather than an independent body. The amended
Constitution also provides for nonprofessional judges to be
elected to all courts below the Supreme Court. The stated
purpose of this was to "popularize justice," i.e., provide a
role for peers to influence the formal judicial process.
According to the law, any Congolese citizen can become a judge
but can adjudicate cases only in collaboration with trained
judges. All nominations must be approved by the party. By
law, the right to a fair and public trial exists in all cases,
and the judicial process is relatively fair and open for those
accused of common crimes. It is not unusual to have a higher
court reverse lower court decisions in nonpolitical cases.
Detained persons are entitled to legal counsel, and all
lawyers are regulated by the State. In capital criminal
cases, defense lawyers are provided by the Government for
those without funds.
While political cases usually do not come to the trial stage,
when they do they are tried by a special court, the
Revolutionary Court of Justice. Trials before this Court,
such as the August 1986 trial of 10 persons convicted of
causing bomb explosions in Brazzaville in 1982, have not met
international standards of fairness. In that case, AI
indicated that several judges were members of the PCT Central
Committee and had been involved in the case at an earlier
stage. In 1988 the President commuted the sentences of four
defendants in the case. There were no known political cases
tried before the Revolutionary Court in 1989.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence
There is generally little interference by the Government with
privacy, family, home, or correspondence so long as a person
does not engage in any overt activity which involves or
implies opposition to the Government.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
Freedom of speech and press are restricted, despite guarantees
in the Constitution. The Government allows some criticism of
its policies and programs judged not to be politically
sensitive, but it does not allow its ultimate authority to be
challenged publicly. The Government does not hesitate to
arrest people and hold them incommunicado for expressing views
it finds objectionable, as in the cases of the "new society"
writers (see Section l.d) and Jean-Felix Demba Ntelo, who was
released by presidential decree in 1988 after several months
in custody. (The Government maintains that these persons were
involved in a coup plot.)
The State owns and controls all media except for one weekly
religious newspaper. A state censorship committee reviews the
content of all newspapers, movies, books, and records.
Articles considered to be critical of the Government or its
leaders are censored. The Government and party, through
general guidelines for journalists, control the kind of news
Congolese journalists may publish from various sources of
information. Self-censorship, however, is the general pattern.
The Congolese have access to Zairian radio and television, as
well as to news and feature programming from France and the
United States. Western papers and magazines are freely
available. However, individual issues containing articles
critical of Congolese domestic politics have been pulled from
newsstands and the mails; and foreign journalists working on
domestic issues are occasionally detained or expelled.
Foreign journalists are generally permitted to travel freely
once an entry visa and a special permit for travel to the
interior are obtained. These are usually granted.
Academic freedom is limited. The Congolese educational system
borrows liberally from the Soviet system in form, but it
offers a broad range of materials, including American, to
students. Increasing numbers of Congolese pursue higher
education in American and other Western institutions.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The right of peaceful assembly is limited by the State's
perceived self-interest. Political meetings are permitted
only for the party and its affiliated organizations.
Government permission is not required for groups to assemble
for religious or social purposes, but it is required for the
use of official facilities. Government authorization is also
required to establish professional clubs and organizations, of
which there are several.
For a discussion of freedom of association as it applies to
labor unions, see section 6. a.
c. Freedom of Religion
Freedom of religion is guaranteed by law, but the Government
is officially atheist. Christmas Day, for example, is
officially called Children's Day. Religious organizations,
such as the Salvation Army, must obtain government permission
to work in the Congo. Jehovah's Witnesses are not permitted.
Members of the Baha * i faith may hold services but are
prohibited from organizing and teaching. With these important
exceptions, the government and party position toward religious
affairs is characterized by political pragmatism, with
regular, though unofficial, contacts between the respective
leaderships.
The Catholic Church, the largest single religious community,
maintains a seminary for the training of its clergy and has
missions throughout the country. Masses are held in French
and the various local languages. The Catholic church
publishes the only independent newspaper. La Semaine
Africaine. Catholic and other missionaries are active in
managing private missions and providing other social
services. Some social services formerly provided by the
Catholic Church have lapsed, but a few continue as joint
church-government ventures, especially in education. With the
recent liberalization in Congo's economic policies, there are
some signs of government efforts to solicit church support,
including the provision of seats for religious representatives
in the National Assembly.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
The Government exercises limited control over the internal
movement of its citizens through identification card checks
and control points outside all major towns where soldiers or
militia rigorously check identification documents. Congolese
citizens wishing to travel abroad require exit authorization
from the -State Security Organization (DGSE) . Passports are
generally granted but must be returned to the DGSE after the
traveler returns from abroad. There are no known instances of
Congolese being refused the right to return to their country.
There are no known cases of a native-born Congolese being
denied citizenship.
The Congo is the home of about 2,000 refugees, primarily from
Chad, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi, and Zaire.
In the case of Zaire, refugees are often indistinguishable
from the sizable number of Zairians in Congo engaged in
economic pursuits. Refugees are subject to surveillance and
occasional harassment and expulsion by the Congolese
Government, but there has been no widespread or systematic
forced repatriation of refugees. The Congo is a party to the
U.N. Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of
Refugees, and a representative of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees is resident in Brazzaville.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
The Congolese people do not have the right to change their
government through democratic processes. Under the
Constitution, the President of the Central Committee of the
Congolese Labor Party (PCT) is automatically President of the
Republic. After coming to power in a surprise Central
Committee maneuver in 1979, Colonel Denis Sassou-Nguesso was
reelected by regular party congresses in 1984 and 1989. The
President is the most powerful single person in government,
but his authority is limited by his need to maintain a
consensus in the Political Bureau and within the larger
Central Committee. The Congolese military, whose leadership
is drawn primarily from the north, supports the Government,
24-900 O—90 4
and its officers occupy key positions among the ruling group.
Government and party positions, however, are awarded to
representatives of the southern and eastern ethnic groups in
numbers sufficient to ensure their support or acquiescence and
to maintain a rough regional and ethnic political balance.
Opportunities for political involvement by Congolese citizens
are limited to the Marxist-Leninist Congolese Labor Party
(PCT), including its mass organizations, and to participation
in national, regional, and local assemblies. The PCT is the
"supreme social and political organization." No other
political parties are permitted to operate, and political
competition takes place almost exclusively within the PCT
framework. PCT membership is approximately 10,000 out of a
population of some 2 million. Membership is awarded on the
basis of political loyalty and public service.
The national, regional, and local assemblies are elected by
universal suffrage from single, party-approved lists, which
contain only one candidate for each seat. The selection
process can involve a certain amount of negotiation within the
PCT, and incumbents have been turned out of office in the
process. National Assembly representatives are chosen on a
merit basis from a broad spectrum of the population, including
party members, the army, small farmers, workers, and
representatives of religious groups. The powers of the
National Assembly are limited, but its debates on social and
economic issues have some impact. Regional and local
assemblies may discuss issues and make recommendations before
decisions are made at the national level. The last elections
for the national, regional, and local assemblies took place in
September 1989.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
The Congo Government rarely publicizes the arrest, trial, or
release of political opponents. Polite listening without
response is standard government procedure when faced with
human rights inquiries from foreign governments or
nongovernmental organizations. Foreign journalists have been
expelled for investigating human rights issues, such as the
circumstances under which political detainees are held. The
Government did permit AI to send an observer to the 1986
bombing trial. It did not respond, however, to AI '
s
subsequent request to send a delegation to review the human
rights situation or to its 1987 memorandum concerning the 1986
trial. There are no human rights organizations in the Congo.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Language, or Social Status
Under the Constitution there is no official discrimination
based on race, sex, religion, language, or social status. As
previously noted, northerners, especially those of the Cuvette
region, exert strong influence in politics and in the security
services. There are occasional reports of mistreatment of
pygmies. Such incidents seem to be the result of cultural
friction between those forest dwellers and villagers, rather
than government policy, which specifically calls for
integrating the pygmies into the economy and society.
Women have the same legal rights as men in commerce, politics,
and society. Among some ethnic groups, women are often the
chief decisionmakers. There is a large disparity, however,
between salaries for men and women, and women are relegated to
a secondary role in the modern sectors of society. This also
holds for rural society where women are heavily involved in
traditional family farming. The husband has considerable
legal or actual control over the activities of his spouse, a
control usually moderated by the influence of the extended
family. Congolese women may not receive official travel
documents without the permission of their husband, father, or
male head of family.
Anecdotal evidence suggests violence against women, for
example in the form of wife beating, is not widespread in the
Congo. However, there are no studies or statistics available
to determine more precisely the extent of the problem. There
are no specific laws addressing violence against women beyond
those protecting individuals regardless of sex. Legal
remedies through the court system are available but are rarely
used. In this strongly family-oriented society, informal
remedies through the extended family system are most readily
used. The Government has not specifically addressed the issue
of violence against women, but in any case relies on the PCT
women's organization to take the leadership role in educating
the public in such matters. Female genital mutilation
(circumcision) is not practiced among the Congolese; it may,
however, occasionally be found among West Africans resident in
Brazzaville or Pointe Noire.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The labor code adopted in March 1975 provides in theory for
the right or workers to associate. In practice, given its
historically active political role, the labor movement is
scrutinized closely and controlled by the Government and
party, largely through the umbrella union, the Congolese Trade
Union Confederation (CSC), which is itself an appendage of the
party. No group is allowed to form an independent,
alternative union outside the party. As long as political
subjects are avoided, there is a degree of democratic dialog
within the labor movement and between the CSC and the
Government.
The CSC unions are prohibited from striking, although wildcat
strikes occur with relative impunity.
The CSC is affiliated with the Communist-controlled World
Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) , but it is free to and does
associate with other international and regional labor
organizations. As a reflection of the Government's efforts to
improve contacts with Western countries, the CSC leadership in
1988 proposed establishment of a bilateral relationship with
the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial
Organization's (AFL/CIO) African American Labor Center
(AALC) . However, the AFL/CIO's policy against association
with WFTU-af filiated unions has limited the contacts and
prevented Congolese participation in AALC-sponsored activities.
Despite government assertions that the single trade union
system results from the common will of the workers and from
political, economic, and historical development, the
International Labor Organization's (ILO) Committee of Experts
again in 1989 noted that a trade union monopoly established by
legislation is in violation of ILO Convention 87 on Freedom ofCQNGQ
Association, which the Congo has ratified, and has urged the
Government to bring its legislation into conformity.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The CSC is represented in every ministry and state-owned
enterprise and serves on management boards along with a member
of the Government and the party. Known as the "determinant
trilogy," this structure is responsible for ensuring that the
three major points of view are represented in the
decisionmaking process and serves as Congo's form of
collective bargaining in both the public and private sectors.
While no alternatives to strikes exist, the local unions
within the CSC have been able, in some instances, to persuade
the Government to provide workers with increased benefits,
including wage increases. The entire Congolese labor force is
treated equally under the law; there are no exceptions such as
those granted, for example, to export processing zones, of
which the Congo has none.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
There were no reports of forced or compulsory labor, which is
legally prohibited.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The minimum age for employment of children is 16. Outside the
Government and major employers, this minimum is often ignored,
especially in small family enterprises or family farms in the
subsistence agricultural sector.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
Working conditions for the 50 percent of the population in the
modern sector are generally good and include a social security
system. These conditions include a maximum 40-hour workweek,
at least 1 day of rest per week, family benefits, severance
pay, and medical care. The minimum monthly wage is $85 for
urban employees. Domestic workers must be paid at least $75
monthly. Outside the Government, large corporations, and
foreign enterprises, these minimums are often ignored. While
many salaried Congolese have a rather high standard of working
conditions and social benefits, the minimum wage does not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and his
family. Workers at this wage level and many others in the
informal sector are dependent upon the extended family,
including other salaried family members, and some subsistence
farming, in which most of the rural population is still
engaged. There is a code of occupational safety and health,
although it, too, is not rigidly enforced.
