On the 12th of December 2022, the Congolese National Assembly approved a draft national law on human rights defenders. This draft law, that has been in the works since 2017, is hoped to provide recognition and protection for human rights defenders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A national law would embody a long awaited centralized policy for human rights defenders everywhere in the DRC. As of now, there are only two local edicts in place in the two provinces South Kivu (2016) and North Kivu (2019). These only protect human rights defenders in these specific provinces.

The bill will be discussed at the Congolese Senate from March 15th 2023 onwards. In preparation to these discussions, Protection International is providing feedback to Senators on the current draft law to insure its provisions provide effective and non-ambiguous protection for human rights defenders.

For any questions regarding this process, please write focus@protectioninternational.org.