Democratic Republic of Congo

 Geographical Information

 Historical Background

Historically, earlier migration patterns into the current-day DRC were informed by the hunter-gatherer nature of society, European exploration, missionary work, and expansion of the slave trade. Initially a personal colony of King Leopold II of Belgium, the DRC was exploited for the extraction of rubber, minerals, and oil. In 1907, the local population officially handed Belgium the territory (current day DRC) due to the abuse and exploitation the people of Congo experienced, which resulted in the death and maiming of millions under the King’s rule. During the Belgian colonial era, the number of Belgians living in DRC rose from 1,500 to 17,000 in 1930 and to 89,000 in 1959 (Flahaux and Schoumaker, 2016).

Due to its strategic geographical position, the DRC has played a crucial role in migratory movements in Africa, being at the same time a country of origin, destination, and transit for millions of people since its independence. Unfortunately, an accurate and updated analysis of the migration phenomena is still not possible because of the lack of reliable data and, on the other hand, because immigration to the country is often undocumented. After its independence and throughout the 1970s, the Democratic Republic of Congo became an attractive destination for working migrants from African and Eastern countries (Lebanon and India), to find employment, especially in the mining sector. Immigration started to decrease after the 1973 oil crisis and constantly declined as the political situation worsened. According to the United Nations Population Division (UNPD, 2008), the number of immigrants has been dropping since 1995. During this period, the country was turned into an immense refugee camp hosting people fleeing from Rwanda, Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, and Uganda. It is important to note that the country has largely been considered a transit point to other destinations, such as South Africa, which have been considered much safer and seemed to offer better opportunities.

Moreover, the Second Congo War (1998-2003) reversed the migration trend, leading to massive internal displacements and urging many Congolese to leave their country. On the other hand, recent international commercial agreements between Kinshasa and Beijing have increased the presence of Chinese immigrants in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These immigrants operate in the mining sector, work for infrastructure projects, or run businesses that have the potential to develop and improve the economic conditions of the country (Flahaux and Schoumaker, 2016). 

The profile of Congolese emigrants has undergone significant changes in recent years. If in the ‘60s and ‘70s, they were long-term working migrants heading to Belgium and France, during the ‘90s, they were mostly asylum seekers and refugees fleeing mostly to other African countries, often without being registered. Therefore, beyond the official figures accounting for Congolese migration, especially during the two Congo wars, a massive exodus of people has remained unrecorded. 

 Migration Policies

So far, the Democratic Republic of Congo has acceded to international conventions regarding migration. These include the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees (1956 and 1967) Protocols, the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (1993), the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (1996), the Protocols against the Smuggling of Migrants and Human Trafficking (2005) and it also signed the Kampala Convention on IDPs in Africa (2016). In addition to that, the government of the DRC has also signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976) and ratified the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Moreover, the Constitution of 2005 recognizes the rights of migrants in terms of section 32 of the Constitution and grants further rights associated with asylum seekers and refugees in section 33. Nevertheless, the government has never developed a clear and efficient migration policy and lacks a solid legal framework on migratory issues. Act No. 23-96 of June 1996 states the terms of entry, stay, and leave for foreigners. 

In 2002, the government passed a national refugee law (Law No 021/2002 of 16 October 2002) establishing the CNR (Commission Nationale pour les Réfugiés – the National Refugee Commission) to process asylum applications and ensure the protection of refugees (UNHCR, 2013). In the same year, another law (No. 036/2003) established the main institutions regulating migratory policies and the Central Directorate of the Border Police of the Congolese National Police (for the control of migratory movements and borders) along with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (issuing permits to working immigrants), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (issuing passports and visas and, since 2006, monitoring Congolese emigrants). Moreover, in accordance with Law No. 036/2002 of 28 March 2002, there was the designation of services and public bodies authorised to act at the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Law designates the following government services: The General Directorate of Migration, DGM; The Customs and Excise Office, OFIDA; The Congolese Control Office, OCC; The Public Hygiene Service and the new - at the time Central Directorate of the Border Police of the Congolese National Police, which supports these four services and ensures the protection and physical surveillance of the borders. Together these five services ensure integrated border management in accordance with their specific mandates. Despite numerous institutions dealing with migration and refugee issues in the DRC the legal framework still presents some gaps, and the poor coordination among the different departments and ministries is still a key challenge for the development of an effective migration policy.

 Governmental Institutions

 Internal Migration

From 1999-2009, movement in the DRC was marked by two factors: forced displacement during the wars and economic crisis, and the exploitation of natural resources (Ngoie & Lelu, 2009). While the former urged people to move from rural to urban areas like Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, and Goma, where they could be employed in the informal sector, the latter reversed the migratory route from urban to rural areas in Pwelo, Dilolo, Kambove, in which the search for gold and other minerals became the predominant activity for migrants (Ibid).

Rapid urbanization in the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in Kinshasa, over the last two decades has been phenomenal. Despite the absence of current census data, Kinshasa remains one of the largest cities in Africa after Lagos and Cairo (Anglewicz et al., 2017). It is projected to become the largest megacity in Africa by 2030 (Batana et al., 2021). According to the World Development Indicators (WDI), as cited by Batana et al. (2021), the DRC urban population doubled from 16.5 million in 2000 to 35.7 million in 2017 - reflecting a 1.1 million annual increase with an increase in urbanization rate from 35% to 44% during the same period.

 Internally Displaced Persons

By the end of December 2022, there were 5.7 million people internally displaced as a result of conflict and disaster in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), 2023). However, as of April 2023, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as cited by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (2023), the number of internally displaced persons increased to 6.2 million. The increment is greatly informed by the presence of armed groups fighting against the state. Other sources of internal displacement include the outbreak of epidemics (cholera, measles, and Ebola) and acute food insecurity. 

 Conflict

Conflict remains the main source of internal displacement in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sources of conflict include military operations against non-state armed groups, clashes between groups, and inter-communal violence. In 2022, the country recorded its highest figures on conflict-related displacement: 4 million people were internally displaced because of conflict and violence. The eastern provinces of Ituri and North & South Kivu recorded the highest number of conflict-related displacements (Ibid). 

 Disaster

According to IDMC (2023), there were 423,000 disaster-related displacements, and almost half of the displacements were caused by heavy rains on 12 December 2022 in the capital – Kinshasa. Heavy rains also displaced 110,000 people in the province of Maniema and 67,000 in the province of South Kivu. Other causes of disaster-related displacement include landslides, earthquakes, strong winds, and volcanic eruptions. 

 Immigration

In 2010, the international migrant stock was estimated to be 589,000. In 2015, it was estimated to be 824,500, and in 2019, it stood at 963,800 - representing a 0.9% to 1.1% - share of the total population (UN DESA, 2019). Though there has been a slight increase from 2015-2019, as a proportion of the population - it is low. Although the country is endowed with a lot of natural resources, its resources are being looted by a few at the expense of millions of innocent men, women, and children abandoned in extreme poverty. For example, according to the Global Witness report, as indicated by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (2018), between 2013 and 2015, more than $750 million of mining revenues paid by companies to the state bodies was lost to the treasury. This mismanagement and plundering of state resources has constrained development programmes in the country and made the country unattractive to immigrants, especially economic migrants. Most immigrants in the DRC come from the Central African Republic, Rwanda, Angola, South Sudan, and Burundi (UN DESA, 2019). 

However, it is important to note that the data are far from being exhaustive as immigrants cross the border irregularly or without being registered. Moreover, those who are self-employed often work in the informal sector, making it difficult to account for them in migration statistics. Also, no census has been conducted in the DRC since 1984. 

The data regarding migration in this country are difficult to verify due to irregular and unregistered border crossings, informal, unregistered labour practices, and outdated census statistics.

 Female Migration

 Children

According to UN DESA (2019), the immigrant stock of children in the DRC has been stable between 1990-2015 at 31.9% of the immigrant population. In 2019, the immigrant stock of children as a percentage of the immigrant population declined to 23.6. UNICEF (2021) indicates that as a result of militia attacks, there are more than 5 million displaced people in DRC, about 3 million of which are children. According to Save the Children (2022), several challenges confront children in DRC. As a result of widespread poverty, with more than 73% of people living in poverty, 91 out of 1,000 children die before their fifth birthday, 43% of children have stunted growth due to severe malnutrition, 38% of children engage in child labour, and 21% of girls aged 15-19 are married. Another challenge facing children in the DRC is the forced conscription by militia groups of child soldiers. Although there is no precise data on the number of child soldiers in DRC, UNICEF (2018) posits that in the Kasai region alone, there are between 5,000 to 10,000 child soldiers. 

 Refugees and Asylum seekers

For decades, the Democratic Republic of Congo has maintained an “open-door policy” to refugees, welcoming and protecting refugees from other parts of the world. The number of refugees in the DRC reached a record of 1,433,800 in 1995 (UN DESA, 2019), and since then, it has been below 600,000. As of April 2023, there were 522,579 refugees and asylum seekers in the DRC - 48% men and 52% women (USAID, 2023 & UNHCR, 2022a). The refugees and asylum seekers in the DRC come mostly from Rwanda (210,621), the Central African Republic (210,020), South Sudan (56,351), Burundi (40,511), and other countries (1,192) (Ibid). Although the DRC has an encampment policy for refugees, the majority of refugees and asylum seekers (72%) live outside the refugee camps, and 3% live in urban areas (Ibid). Refugees from the Central African Republic are located mostly in the provinces of North and South Ubangi, Bas-Uele, and Ituri provinces, those from South Sudan are primarily in the Haut-Uele and Ituri provinces. Rwandan refugees are primarily located in North Kivu and South Kivu, and refugees from Burundi are located mainly in the South Kivu province (UNHCR, 2019-2020). As a result of militia attacks in some provinces, for example, North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri, the number of refugees located in urban areas such as Kinshasa, Goma, Bukavu, and Lubumbashi are increasing.  

Despite its poor economic system and the violent environment, its geographical position amidst conflict and insecurity in neighbouring countries has made the DRC an inevitable passage for thousands of refugees escaping from Burundi, Rwanda, Angola, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan. In 2002, in response to the inflow of asylum seekers in the DRC, the government created the National Refugee Commission to deal with asylum applications (UNHCR, 2019-2020). By law, refugees are granted the same basic rights as nationals in DRC, but it is always problematic to help, assist, and monitor refugees because of the unstable political nature of the country. Although the DRC is a refugee-receiving country, at the same time, there is also a growing number of refugees from the DRC. There is a geopolitical irony in the tensions between the reception and open hosting of refugees by a country that has a growing number of refugees fleeing its territory.

 According to UNHCR (2022b), there were 403,775 Congolese refugees in 2018, and the number has more than doubled to 960,441 Congolese refugees in 2022. Most of the refugees from the DRC live in neighbouring African countries Angola, Burundi, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia.

 Emigration

 Labour Migration

Despite the country’s political and economic instability, ethnic conflict, and repeated wars, the diverse rich mineral resources of the country, including cobalt, zinc, uranium, diamonds, and gold, continue to attract international migrants, including low-skilled and irregular immigrants from neighbouring African countries and multinational cooperation. As a member state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which recently adopted a new labour action plan that progressively seeks to eliminate obstacles to the free movement of capital and labour, signals the Democratic Republic of Congo’s commitment to welcome migrant labour from other countries within the region. Other countries outside the regional formation with labour immigrants in the DRC include China, Ukraine, Lebanon, India, and Mexico.

 Human Trafficking

The DRC is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking and was upgraded from Tier 3 to the Tier 2 watchlist (US Department of State, 2023). Men, women, and children are at risk of forced labour and sex trafficking, mostly inflicted by the armed groups that still control some areas, especially in the eastern region (Ibid). Common forms of exploitation include forced labour, including debt bondage. Women and girls are used for forced prostitution and marriages and as domestic servants. Children are employed in agriculture, mining, smuggling, and begging (Ibid). Children are conscripted into the army as combatants, spies, or human shields (Ibid). Human trafficking is prevalent in the DRC, with 3,107 documented cases in which children escaped from armed groups in the DRC in 2019 (The Borgen Project, 2020). In April 2019, the Agency for the Prevention and the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons (APLTP), was established as the national coordinating body for anti-trafficking (US Department of State, 2023). 

The government, in partnership with NGOs, identified 306 trafficking victims and a further 145 potential trafficking victims in 2022 and initiated 207 investigations – 62 for sex trafficking, 152 for labour trafficking, and 93 for unspecified forms of trafficking – and prosecuted 27 alleged traffickers – 18 for labour trafficking and 9 for unspecified forms of trafficking – and convicted I labour trafficker (US Department of State, 2023). Several challenges impede the government's ability to deal with human trafficking in DRC, including the difficulties in identifying victims and officials conflating trafficking with other crimes (Ibid). Additionally, with nine neighbouring countries, Congolese borders are difficult to monitor, and police surveillance is ineffective. Angola and Uganda are the countries that allow refugees and asylum seekers to enter informally that is without being accounted for. Traffickers use the opportunity to traffic their victims without any police intervention. There was further evidence in 2018 of some national army forces being involved or complicit in human trafficking (US Department of State, 2019). For instance, from January to August 2018, reports indicate that at least 893 women and girls were victims of sexual and gender-based violence, with primary perpetrators including police, intelligence agents, armed groups, and the Congolese National Army (FARDC), which worked with proxy militias which recruited and used child soldiers (Ibid). Also, the FARDC continued to collaborate broadly with the Bana Mura proxy militia, which used at least 64 children in sexual slavery during the 2018 reporting period (Ibid). In the following year, the government made key achievements during the reporting period including increasing prosecutions and investigations of trafficking cases, particularly on sex trafficking and forced labour crimes that had previously generally not been addressed in the justice system (US Department of State, 2020). The government convicted a former colonel in the FARDC for trafficking crimes and ordered the leader of an armed group and two accomplices to pay restitution to more than 300 victims of sexual enslavement and other crimes (Ibid)

 Remittances

Returns and Returnees

 International Organisations

The most important international organizations dealing with migration in the DRC are the IOM (International Organization for Migration), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The IOM aims to improve the collection of data regarding migratory movements and internal displacements as well as to better manage situations at the borders, where the majority of the population lives and where the presence of refugees and asylum seekers is more prevalent. In the DRC, the IOM has operated by assisting returnees and opposing human trafficking. The UNHCR deals mainly with refugees and IDPs and cooperates with government departments to host Congolese refugees worldwide but also supports and invests in programmes that create opportunities for personal development, such as in the Mantapala settlement in Zambia where refugee women, including many Congolese women, were empowered and trained to become entrepreneurs and have access to markets and services. The MSF assists migrants fleeing disease and conflict in the DRC, including responding to the world’s largest measles epidemic in 2019, with 310,000 infected and 6,000 dead; aiding women displaced as a result of gender-based violence; and providing shelter for those displaced as a result of inter-communal violence.