The Hague/New York/Kinshasa - On 2 January 2016, the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Joseph Kabila, promulgated the Law implementing the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) welcomes this final step which completes the process of full implementation of the Rome Statute in the domestic legal order of the DRC.

Having ratified the Rome Statute in 2002, DRC has a long history of support to the Rome Statute system, since it was one of the first 60 States Parties that contributed to the entry into force of the Rome Statute on 1 July 2002. This enactement marks once again the clear and unequivocal support for the fight against impunity and accountability of perpetrators of the most serious crimes and is the result of the work of PGA Members in the DRC since 2008, who have been instrumental in drafting, introducing and supporting the bill since its inception.

Former PGA Members and MPs Prof. Nyabirungu and Me. Mutumbe had indeed already introduced this draft legislation in 2008, which was then re-tabled in the following legislature by another PGA Member, Prof. Balamage MP in September 2012.

This was the result of intensive work and commitment of the PGA DRC National Group, under the leadership of its first and second Chair, Hon. Emmanuel Adubango Ali and Hon. Mwamus, and then the current Chair Hon. Upira, which organized and hosted many activities since 2008, including a Great Lakes Regional Parliamentary Conference, seminars, meetings, and workshops for the Plenary and the relevant Committees of both Chambers of the Parliament in 2009 (March 27-28), 2010 (October 10-13), 2011 (May 31), 2012 (November 1), 2013 (June 12-13) and 2014 (17 July). The PGA Secretariat and its onsite consultant also provided continued technical assistance to the relevant Parliamentary Committee sessions of the National Assembly, which ultimately decided to transform the Bill into four separate legislative initiatives aimed at amending and completing the Military Criminal Code, Military Criminal Procedure Code, Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code.  

On 2 June the National Assembly of the DRC unanimously voted for the adoption of this bill and on 2 November 2015, only a few months after, thanks to the great mobilisation of PGA Members, the Senate quasi-unanimously adopted the bill as well, with few amendments. Finally, on 10 December, marking Human Rights Day, both Chambers adopted the final version of the bills following the meeting and examination of the bill by the Joint Parliamentary Committee of the National Assembly and the Senate, which had found an agreement on the texts adopted by the two Chambers.

The implementation of the Rome Statute of the ICC allows to give full effect to the ratification of the Rome Statute by the DRC over a decade ago, allowing it to make operational the principle of complementarity by enabling its ordinary jurisdictions to investigate and prosecute the most serious crimes of international concern.

PGA, on behalf of its more than 1300 members from over the entire globe, will continue to encourage these great steps contributing to a rules based international legal order and for a more equitable, safe and democratic world.

About PGA

Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) is the largest transnational network of Members of Parliaments from all regions of the world who, in their individual capacity, support the effective operation of the ICC and of domestic jurisdictions to end impunity. The PGA network is assisted by a small secretariat that facilitates the cooperation and exchange by member-MPs to achieve these goals and provides technical cooperation on legal matters.

Members of PGA have contributed to 77 of the 124 ratifications of, or accession to the Rome Statute to date.  PGA is a member of the Steering Committee of the Coalition for the ICC and has partnered with the DRC National Coalition.

The PGA Campaign for the Universality and Effectiveness of the Rome Statute system receives support from:

Governments of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium Estonia, Liechtenstein and