Democratic Republic of the Congo

Joint letter from several international, national NGOs and UNICEF sent to MFA in April 2015, followed by bilateral meetings (NRC MoE). UNICEF, Save and Monusco raised the SSD with government several times. March 2016 advocacy visit (Filipa), indicated no political objections on MoD, MoE or MoFA, but a lack of prioritization of the issue on the part of the MoFA. SSD was tabled at the meeting of the WG on the implementation of the MRM Action Plan, headed by Gen. Mutombo (legal adviser to the Minister of Defence), MoFA rep was tasked to follow up on endorsement but still no movement. Jeanine Mabunda (pres. adviser on Sexual Violence) was briefed on the SSD endorsement process in March 2016 (Véronique) to clear up confusion as to whether parliament needed to approve the SSD. Save DRC office is planning a roundtable on safe schools in the fall of 2016. Gen Mutombo has been approached as possible speaker for the Addis workshop. Outreach letter sent in advance of CAAC Open Debate

April 2016: the safe schools declaration was tabled for discussion at the working group on the implementation of the MRM action plan, which includes MoD, MoFA and MoE among other entities. The group formulated a positive recommendation on DRC endorsement in response to a request for recommendation from the MFA. STC’s CEO made a visit to Kinshasa and raised the SSD with the prime minister subsequently. The endorsement has however not yet been formalized. STC’s project on schools as zones of peace in DRC is soon launching a consultancy to map existing legal, policy and operational frameworks relating to the protection of schools from attack and military use, and identify ways to contextualize the Guidelines in the DRC.

August 2016: CAAC Open Debate: “Finally, the use of schools for military purposes is mentioned in paragraph 50 of the report. This practice is not tolerated within the FARDC, especially since a directive of the Ministry of Defence has prohibited it for several years. It should be noted that the troops in all units of our army now receive training in international humanitarian law. Moreover, since the Government and the United Nations signed the action plan, awareness-raising campaigns have been conducted and the contents of the plan are on the curriculum of all the military academies in our country. In order to demonstrate our determination never to use schools for military purposes, my country endorsed the Oslo Safe Schools Declaration.” Confirmation received through Norway that DRC has endorsed. GCPEA sent a letter of appreciation. To date, we are unaware of any legislation or military doctrine that explicitly prohibits military use of schools or makes it a criminal offence, which would facilitate implementation of the sanctions proposed by the directive. Human Rights Watch made a submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in November 2016, which highlighted this. September-October 2016: Save the Children in DRC organized two roundtables on the protection of schools from military use, one in Kinshasa and in Goma. At the first, a presentation was given by Colonel Georges Mukole of the Ministry of Defense, representing General Mutombo.

November 2016: Unfortunately, although they were originally due to provide a speaker for the workshop in Addis Ababa, in the end DRC was unable to participate.

September 2017 UNSC: GCPEA sent a letter to the ambassador in New York asking to raise the issue on attacks and military use, draw attention to the Declaration and the Guidelines and to mention the AU call to endorse during the Open Debate on children and armed conflict.

April 2018: Save the Children hosted a follow-up workshop to discuss the findings of the review of the legal framework on attacks on education, and to progress plans for implementation of the Declaration commitments. The workshop was attended by representatives of the parliamentary group on defence and security, members of the security services, Argentina, Norway, and members of the Joint Technical Working Group, Geneva Call, the Education Cluster, UNESCO, UNICEF, OCHA, the MRM Country Task Force, national education organisations.

August 2018: The Security Council Working Group on children and armed conflict released a press statement concerning the sixth report of the Secretary‑General on children and armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In it, the Working Group commends the government “for its endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration and the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict and [calls] for their swift implementation, encouraging the Government to ensure that attacks on schools are investigated and that those responsible are duly prosecuted.” Watchlist and Child Soldiers International had conducted advocacy to secure this and additional language.

February 2019: OHCHR in the Democratic Republic of the Congo documented a restriction on humanitarian access for 18 days during an attack by Twa militias on Mulange and Kioko villages, in the province of Tanganyika. In the same context, in Kioko, a primary school was occupied by the armed forces for 14 days.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.

October 2019: Save the Children organised a follow-up workshop to discuss the recommendations on the implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration agreed during a round table earlier this year.

January 2020: GCPEA made a submission on the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights ahead of the upcoming Pre-Sessional Working Group 66. In particular, GCPEA shared with the Committee the report “‘All That I Have Lost’: Impact of Attacks on Education for Women and Girls in Kasai Central Province – Democratic Republic of Congo”, which highlights how the right to education and other economic, social and cultural rights have been severely impeded in the DRC, particularly for females. GCPEA requested that the Committee makes a recommendation to the government to implement the Safe Schools Declaration, including by taking immediate steps to account for the specific needs and experiences of women and girls.

August 2020: GCPEA shared our Kasai region report in advance of the briefing by DRC on the situation of children in the Kasai region during the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Children 35th virtual session in September.

January 2021: GCPEA and Save the Children DRC discussed the possibility of convening a call with the individual Ministries in April to follow-up on the online training, discuss the Education under Attack 2020 findings, and concrete steps on SSD implementation. The opportunity of organizing Inter-Ministerial virtual meeting will be also explored. The objective of the meeting will be to encourage political ownership and concrete steps to be taken on SSD implementation ahead of the 4th international conference on safe schools in October.