Congo Democratic Republic of the Issues - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

heads of the Great Lakes states and UN pledged in 2004 to abate tribal, rebel, and militia fighting in the region, including northeast Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC)-Republic of the Congo: the location of the boundary in the broad Congo River is indefinite except in the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area

Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC)-Uganda: Uganda rejects the DRC claim to Margherita Peak in the Rwenzori mountains and considers it a boundary divide; there is tension and violence on Lake Albert over prospective oil reserves at the mouth of the Semliki River

Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC)-Zambia: boundary commission continues discussions over Congolese-administered triangle of land on the right bank of the Lunkinda River claimed by Zambia near the DRC village of Pweto

Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC)-Angola: DRC accuses Angola of shifting monuments

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 210,238 (Central African Republic), 208,227 (Rwanda), 56,536 (South Sudan) (refugees and asylum seekers), 44,416 (Burundi) (2023)

IDPs: 6.17 million (fighting between government forces and rebels since mid-1990s; conflict in Kasai region since 2016) (2023)

Trafficking in persons

tier rating:

Tier 2 Watch List — The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; the government finalized standard operating procedures for victim identification and referral for services and partnered with NGOs to identify more trafficking victims; the DRC investigated, prosecuted, and convicted traffickers, including complicit officials; however, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared with the previous year; Congolese National Army officers continued coordinating with an armed group allegedly engaged in forcibly recruiting and using children; authorities penalized victims for committing unlawful acts traffickers compelled them to commit, and official complicity in trafficking crimes remains a significant concern; the government did not adopt comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation for the third consecutive year; because the DRC has devoted sufficient resources to a plan that, if implemented, would constitute significant efforts to meet the minimum standards, it was granted a waiver per the TVPA from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3, therefore the DRC remained on Tier 2 Watch List for the third consecutive year (2022)

trafficking profile:

human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Democratic Republic of the Congo and Congolese abroad; most trafficking is internal and involves the forced labor of men, women, and children in artisanal mining, agriculture, domestic servitude, sex trafficking, or child recruitment by armed groups; some traffickers are family members or others who promise victims or victims’ families educational or job opportunities and instead force victims to work as domestic servants, street vendors, gang members, or in commercial sex; some Congolese women and girls who migrate to other countries in Africa or the Middle East are exploited in sex trafficking or forced labor in agriculture, diamond mines, or domestic service; they may be fraudulently recruited by traffickers with false promises of jobs or education (2022)

Illicit drugs

country of origin of methamphetamine destined for overseas markets;

NOTE: The information regarding Congo Democratic Republic of the on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Congo Democratic Republic of the 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Congo Democratic Republic of the 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.