groups who have perpetrated sexual violence and their identification in case of gang rapes.
341. With regard to legal remedies in the case of the violation of the rights of women, the
Government is setting up units to combat sexual violence in every public prosecutor’s
office of all county courts in the DRC. Concerning the reintegration of survivors, with the
support of the Office of the Special Adviser to the Head of State, vocational training sessions
for women who have suffered sexual violence and demobilized children are organized at
Nyiragongo in the North Kivu Province in particular by the National Vocational Training Institute
(INPP).
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Measures to ensure that no child, particularly girls, takes part in hostilities, and
that no child gets recruited as a soldier (Article 11(4))
342. Article 53, Paragraph b and c of the “law on the protection of children” condemns the worst
forms of child labour, namely all forms of slavery or similar practices, such as the sale of and
trafficking in children, debt bondage and serfdom as well as forced or compulsory child labour
seeking to use children in armed conflicts.
343. Under administrative measures, the government issued Decree No. 09/17 of 30 April, 2009
on the establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Committee in charge of the Design and Orientation
of the DDR III, while in 2014, the President of the Republic appointed a Special Adviser on the
fight against sexual violence whose mission included ensuring that children, particularly girls,
are not recruited by armed groups.
344. The establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Committee in charge of Design and Orientation in
the area of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration, as amended and complemented
by Decree No. 09/l7 of 30 April, 2009, and the surveillance and communication mechanism on
the violations of the rights of children also constitute mechanisms put in place by the
Government to monitor the rights of children and the non-recruitment of the same by armed
groups.
345. In 2008, the National Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Plan (PNDDR) was
adopted to cater for the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration in social life of persons
enlisted forcibly by armed groups, particularly children. In this same regard, the action plan to
combat the recruitment and use of children into armed forces was signed by the Congolese
Government and MONUSCO. Furthermore, the national plan to combat the worst forms of child
labour associated with the armed forces was put in place in December, 2011. On the other
hand, the Government intends to operationalize the Children’s Parliament and the National
Children’s Council which are run by children themselves and will be tasked with sensitizing
their peers as well as the various persons in charge at all levels on the strict application of the
rights of children.
346. Since 2010, the government, with the support of its partners, has been actively getting
involved in the training of children as “Reporters” to sensitize the members of the community
on the violation of the rights of children through radio plays, poems, songs and messages. In
this same regard, the provincial division on gender – Kinshasa and the Ministry of Gender,
Family and Children’s Affairs waged a sensitization campaign in 2010 to combat the abuse,
maltreatment of and violence against children. This activity reached more than 4,700 persons,
including 2,246 teachers in 112 schools in the capital.
347. The Government established a department in the Congolese Police Service to deal with the
fight against sexual violence and to ensure the protection of children as well as trained 300
officers posted to the special units to ensure the effective handling of sexual violence and child
protection cases in their duty stations.
348. The available legal remedies are the Courts and Tribunals sited throughout the country,
particularly the military tribunals. Thus, it is absolutely necessary to establish organs to deal
with human rights, namely Parliament and the National Council on Children.
349. The difficulties in reaching children enlisted into displaced armed groups, budgetary
constraints and failure to trace members of the families of demobilized children who must be
reintegrated into society also constitute obstacles to this aspect of the MAPUTO Protocol. In
fact, the poor state of the means of communications makes certain areas hardly accessible or
inaccessible to stakeholders involved in humanitarian work. With the road construction
programme, access to affected areas is improving. However, the presence of a few armed
groups in the east of the country often prevents access to the needy populations. This is why
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