Democratic Republic of Congo: Update to RDC30240.E of 5 October 1998 on forced marriages in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly within the Yansi tribe; the consequences for refusing such a marriage as well as the recourses and protection available to women who refuse a marriage (July 2003)

The president of the Réseau Programme d'appui aux actions féminines, who is a member of the Yansi tribe and a teacher's assistant at the University of Kinshasa, provided the following information on forced marriages in the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly among the Yansi, in an e-mail sent to the Research Directorate on 14 July 2003:

[translation]

In the RDC, there are at least 300 tribes in which most women are victims of negative customs and traditions that drive them to commit suicide or leave the country.

Among these tribes are the Yansi, who have a system of forced marriages called "Kityul." The Yansi are matrilineal. Girls and women constitute a clan's wealth because they are the ones who "produce" children and ensure the continuation of the clan. It is thanks to girls who give birth to girls that a family becomes wealthy and is able to continue the "Kityul" system, which enriches the clan through dowries destined for the grandfathers of the girls.

Girls are forced to marry [their] grandfathers, his cousins or nephews. A bride may be 12 years old, while her groom is 70 or 80 years old. Parents can say nothing about the decision handed down by the tribe's elders. A dowry is not paid to the girl's parents when she marries, rather it is considered a gift from the clan. However, should a girl refuse a marriage, the fiancéd grandfather can cause her harm by asking to be reimbursed for the fictitious dowry he did not pay – an exorbitant amount that the new fiancé himself may not even be able to pay.

Why do the girls accept this violence? Why are the parents ignored?

They are afraid of dying as victims of witchcraft that would decimate clan members for the next five generations.

A widowed girl or woman is also bequeathed as property after the death of her husband – usually to his brother, cousin or grandfather because they paid the dowry. Before a woman can resume her sex life after her husband's death, she is forced to sleep with a man chosen by the husband's clan, supposedly to get rid of her dead husband's evil spirits.

The result is that vulnerable women and young girls who are educated or have been informed of their rights by NGOs advocating peace, choose to run away, to leave and live elsewhere. The inheritance of widows is practiced in over 100 tribes in the Congo, including the Bakongo, Bandundu, Baluba, etc.

Baluba women are also victims of forced marriages with men in the diamond trade, polygamists who do not respect women as human beings. A man can marry three or four sisters having the same father, same mother. Money is what matters in the man's case; wives live in the same house and share everything. If either the man or the girl disobeys the clan's orders, both are bewitched and poisoned, and deserve to die.

As an NGO, up until now, we have tried to make women aware of the violence they suffer. We have raised the consciousness of men too ... on discrimination against women, but to this day, the country judges victims according to customary laws. We are proposing that parliament [adopt] certain laws to fight the "Kityul" phenomenon, and the early marriage of girls – who are considered to be of full age at 14. We have sent a memo to the government to ask that the provisions regarding a girl's legal age for marriage be changed to 18 years and that the customary provisions that debase women, violate their rights and force them to leave be eliminated.

Quoting a report of the Réseau Femme et Développement from the Province of Bandundu (Réfed/Bandundu), the Comité national Femme et Développement (CONAFED), a Congolese non-governmental organization whose main mission is [translation] "to promote – with a gender-based approach – a society where men and women are committed to one another and maintain relationships in which their obligations and their rights are in equilibrium" (CONAFED n.d.), indicated that [translation] "rape, deportation, desertion of the wife by the husband and forced marriage" are some of the violations of women's rights that have been identified in this province of the RDC (10 Mar. 2003).

Quoting statements from UNICEF, one source indicated that President Joseph Kabila had launched a campaign to increase the birth registration rate, which is currently at 34 per cent, and added that this registration would be used to overcome the problem of girls being forced to marry before they are of legal age because there is no proof of their age (IRIN 17 June 2003).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Comité national Femme et Développement (CONAFED). 10 March 2003. "Campagne nationale contre les violations faites aux femmes en temps de guerre." [Accessed 15 July 2003]

_____. n.d. "Comité national Femme et Développement (CONAFED) : description." [Accessed 15 July 2003]

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). 17 June 2003. "President Kabila Launches National Birth Registration Campaign." (AllAfrica.com/Dialog)

President of the Réseau Programme d'appui aux actions féminines and teacher's assistant at the University of Kinshasa [Kinshasa]. 14 July 2003. E-mail.

Additional Sources Consulted

Africa Confidential

Belgium. October 2002. Commissariat général aux réfugiés et aux apatrides. Service de documentation et de recherche (CEDOCA). Rapport de mission à Kinshasa (République démocratique du Congo) du 16 juin au 5 août 2002.

Dialog

IRB Databases

Resource Centre country file. RDC

Internet sites, including:

Africatime

Allafrica

Digitalcongo.net

European Country of Origin Information Network (ECOI.net)

FIDH

HRW

IRIN

MISNA

La Voix des sans voix (VSV)