The DRC is de facto an abolitionist state, having carried out a death sentence for the last time in 2003. However, 41 individuals still received death sentences in the country in 2018.
While the DRC has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1976, it has yet to ratify its Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2).
12 December 2019: Members of the newly elected Congolese Parliament met to discuss the next steps and a roadmap to promote abolition of the death penalty in DRC. This was also the occasion for the Network of Congolese Parliamentarians against the Death Penalty to rejuvenate itself and to choose a new Chairperson, in the person of Hon. Christelle Vuanga, Member of the National Assembly and Chairwoman of the Human Rights Committee. Hon. Pierrot Uweka Ukaba, Member of the Senate and PGA Member, and Hon. Jean-Marc Lombaku Lohenda, Member of the National Assembly and Member of the Human Rights Committee, respectively became First and Second Deputy Chairman of the Network.
21 August 2019: During the ordinary parliamentary session, Hon. André Mbata, member of the National Assembly and of the Legislation Committee, introduced a private member’s bill to abolish the death penalty. The National Assembly research unit (bureau d’études) was tasked with examining the bill.
1-2 June 2018: In partnership with Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) and Culture pour la paix et la justice (CPJ), PGA organized a regional parliamentary seminar entitled “Abolition of the death penalty in Africa: the role of parliamentarians”, in Kinshasa (DRC). This event received the support of Hon. Aubin Minaku, Speaker of the National Assembly and PGA Member. Along with an attendance of parliamentarians from Central and West African countries and dozens of Congolese parliamentarians, it was opened by Mr. Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, Minister of Justice, and Hon. Rémy Massamba, 2nd Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly. Congolese parliamentarians present committed to promote the adoption of a new Criminal Code abolishing the death penalty and to call on the government to ratify the Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2).
December 2017: PGA’s National Group in the DRC met in Kinshasa to plan its work for the year ahead and renewed its commitment to work towards abolition of the death penalty in 2018.
