Press Release Brazzaville, February 8th 2018. Global Participe and the Congolese Coalition for the Civic Charter informs the national and international community that the Judicial Affairs Commission of the national assembly of the Republic of the Congo is currently revising the law that maintains the advisory council of the civil society and nongovernmental organizations. The right of civil society to be consulted is enshrined in the constitution of the 25th of October 2015, article 238. This revision is being done without consulting with the diverse civil society components and limiting the scope to only two structures: The Congolese Federation of Human Rights Organizations and the National Union of Handicapped Persons. These two actors’ relations with authorities are beyond doubt because of their secular connections with organisations previously related to only one party, the Congolese Party of Work (PCT). The PCT gained the power they have today via the Coup of the 5th of June 1997 and their active participation in the organisation of barely credible and dubious elections which caused an outbreak of violence and arbitrary arrests of opponents and actors of the independent civil society of the Congo.
Global Participe and the Congolese Coalition for the Civic Charter fear that such a law will put in place a repressive organ that restricts the rights and freedoms of civil society organizations in Congo.
Global Participe and the Congolese Coalition for the Civic Charter call for transparency, and the implication of all components on civil society in Congo to be reviewed in the aforementioned law.
Global Participe and the Congolese Coalition for the Civic Charter urge parliamentarian to extend openness and comprehension in such procedures so as to protect the still fledgling democracy of the Republic of the Congo.
Calling upon the republican commitment of governments and parliamentarians of Congo, the Global Participe and the Congolese Coalition for the Civic Charter urge the international community to put pressure on the Congolese parliament in order to allow different actors of civil society to be included in the procedures of consultations underway. This would enable the advisory council of the civil society and of nongovernmental organisations of the Congo to have a judicial frame that allows it to render rights and liberties of the civil society in the Republic of the Congo essential and crucial.
For more information please contact Mrs Lèonie Maribou, communication responsible of the Congolese Coalition for the Civic Charter.
+242064649914
globalparticipe@gmail.com
