Introduction
The parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will consider a draft law this month, which will allow the authorities to discriminate against Congolese citizens, based on their parents’ nationalities. Human Rights Watch has called for this law to be rejected, with concerns that this discrimination is a violation of human rights.
About the Draft Law
The Tshiani, or “Congolity” bill was introduced in 2021, but withdrawn after much objection. Now, the lower chamber of the Congolese parliament will be able to debate this law. The law would mean that any person with at least one parent who is not Congolese would be forbidden from holding the office of president, as well as some other senior positions in government.
Many are concerned that this bill is only being introduced for the purpose of preventing Moïse Katumbi, head of the opposition party, Ensemble pour la République (Together for the Republic), from running in the next election. Katumbi is an established Congolese politician and is considered one of the biggest opponents to the current president in the upcoming elections, which will happen in December 2023. If passed, the Congolity bill would prohibit Katumbi from running for president given that his father is Greek.
Some say that this is not the first attempt to undermine Katumbi. In 2016, the Congolese justice minister opened an investigation against him, which many said was politically motivated. In 2018, the government of former president Joseph Kabila banned Katumbi from returning to the DRC to register as a candidate, effectively banning him from running for president. Katumbi returned in 2019.
Opposition and Concerns
There have been protests across the country to oppose the law. In a statement on the 5th of April 2023, the organisation Voix des Sans Voix (Voice of the Voiceless) said that the parliament should reject the bill to “avoid political tensions that could lead to human rights violations.”
Even the archbishop of Kinshasa has said in his Easter message that “a draft Congolity bill, on the eve of the elections, divides us more than it unites us.” He went on to say that the Congolese people “urgently need gestures and laws that bring us together, rather than acts and provisions that set us against each other.”
Bintou Keita, who leads the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, also expressed concern about “the rise in political discourse of xenophobic and racist messages that constitute a danger to national cohesion, peace, and security.” She is strongly against the proposed Congolity bill.
Possible Human Rights Violation
It is clear that many have warned against the bill, but will it amount to a human rights violation? Under both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, treaties to which Congo is a party, everyone is guaranteed equal and effective protection against discrimination based on descent or national or ethnic origin, or other status. This means that the DRC is clearly risking violating the human rights of its own people, if it passes this law.
