women or jobs which entail an acknowledged or significant risk for the health of
the woman and child. Article 128;
any pregnant woman whose status has been medically certified may nullify her
employment contract without notice and without for the same purpose having to
pay compensation for breach of contract. The same right is granted her for a
period of eight weeks after delivery.
During the period, whether the child is alive or not, the salaried woman is entitled
to two-thirds of her pay and the contractual benefits in kind are also maintained.
During the same period, the employer cannot breach the employment contract.
Article 129
The benefits of the provisions of Article 129 of this code are established for any
salaried woman, given that these provisions apply to her whether she is married
or not, or whether the child is alive or not.
Upon child birth, and without this interruption of work qualifying to be
considered as a cause for a breach of contract, any woman is entitled to
suspend work for fourteen consecutive weeks, a maximum of eight of which
will be spent after delivery and six before delivery. Article 130;
When the woman is breastfeeding her child, she is entitled to two rest periods of
thirty minutes per day in all cases to enable her to breastfeed the child. These
rest periods are factored into remuneration for time worked. Article132.
254. With regard to children (boys and girls), the same Code stipulates that:
children cannot be employed even as apprentices in a company before the age of 15, except
where the Factory Inspector expressly grants a waiver and upon the authority of the parent
or guardian. Article 133.
All the worst forms of child labour are abolished under .Article 3.
The worst forms of child labour include the following in particular:
o All forms of slavery or similar practices such as the selling of or trading in children,
debt bondage and serfdom as well as forced or compulsory labour, including the
forceful or compulsory recruitment for armed conflicts;
o Use, recruitment or supply of children for the purposes of prostitution, production of
pornographic material, pornographic shows or obscene dances;
o Use, recruitment or supply of children for the purposes of illegal activities, particularly
the production and trafficking of narcotics;
o Jobs which, owing to their nature or conditions under which they are performed, are
likely to harm the health, safety, dignity or morality of the child.
A National Committee to combat the worst forms of child labour has been established.
255. Other legislative measures have been taken for both men and women. They include:
Decree-Law of 29 June, 1961, as currently amended, which organizes the operation of the
general social security regime and institutionalizes the establishment of the Fund called the
National Social Security Institute (INSS);
Article 9 of Law No. 11-020 of 15 September, 2011 setting the rules for micro-finance
schemes in the DRC, which stipulates that, any person, depending on the level of his
capacity, shall enjoy access to services provided by micro-finance institutions without any
discrimination, while Article 10 also establishes that micro-finance is fully open to women,
particularly in contributing capital, opening of accounts, enjoying access to credit or any
other service. The law allows women in the informal sector to have access to credit in order
to improve their businesses.
Article 18 of the Law on the modalities for the application of the rights of women and parity
among men and women stipulates that without prejudice to the provisions of the family
code, men and women have the same rights and obligations in their family and marital
relations;
Decree-Law of 16 September, 2003 setting forth the terms of reference of the Ministry of
Planning relating the identification, organization, supervision and integration of the informal
economy . This law virtually addresses job concerns and economic activities of women. A
desk has also been created to promote the establishment of businesses especially by
women.
Statutory Instrument No. 13 /002 of 23 February, 2013 on the setting of taxes, duties and
other revenues of a common interest (taxation and specific purpose taxation).
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