RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO:
Develop a legislative proposal to comprehensively address all forms of trafficking, including forced labor of adults; continue to use existing legislation to investigate and prosecute military and law enforcement personnel and commanders of armed groups accused of unlawful recruitment or use of child soldiers, the use of local populations to perform forced labor, or sex trafficking; in partnership with civil society take steps to expand the availability and provision of comprehensive services to victims of forced labor and sex trafficking; adopt an action plan to combat all forms of trafficking; in partnership with local or international organizations, provide training to law enforcement and judicial officials on the laws available to prosecute trafficking cases and victim-centered procedures in investigation and prosecution; take steps to raise awareness about all forms of human trafficking among the general population; develop procedures for proactive identification of

trafficking victims among vulnerable groups, such as women in prostitution, street children, and men, women, and children in artisanal mining and their subsequent referral to care; continue measures to end the unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers by FARDC members; and continue to ensure the identification, removal, demobilization, and appropriate care for all children associated with armed groups.

PROSECUTION
The government demonstrated progress in investigating, prosecuting, and convicting military and police officials for sexual slavery and arresting and charging commanders of armed groups for the recruitment and use of child soldiers, but it made no progress in addressing trafficking crimes beyond those perpetrated by officials. The July 2006 sexual violence statute (Law 6/018) specifically prohibits sexual slavery, sex trafficking, child and forced prostitution and prescribes penalties for these offenses ranging from five to 20 years’ imprisonment.These penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. Contrary to international law, adult forced labor is not criminalized although indentured servitude is prohibited by the Constitution.The Child Protection Code (Law 09/001) prohibits all forms of forced child labor and child prostitution, and prescribes penalties of 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment for sexual slavery. Cases of forced child labor, debt bondage, and child commercial sexual exploitation have penalties of one to three years’ imprisonment, which are not sufficiently stringent for the serious nature of the crime. The enlistment of children into the armed forces and the police has penalties of 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment, but the code cannot be fully implemented because necessary decrees from several ministries reportedly continue to be lacking.
The government’s ability to enforce its laws does not extend to many areas of the country where trafficking occurs. In addition, awareness of the various forms of trafficking among law enforcement is limited and judges, prosecutors, and investigators often lacked adequate training and resources to conduct investigations and try cases. The government reported continuing investigations initiated in the previous year involving cases of transnational sex trafficking of Congolese women to Lebanon and Kuwait; however, they did not result in prosecutions or convictions during the reporting period.The government’s efforts to investigate and prosecute sex and labor trafficking crimes implicating or affecting the general public appeared negligible, as all reported law enforcement action initiated in 2014 involved officials or abuses within the FARDC.
Impunity for trafficking crimes by the security forces remained a challenge; nonetheless, the government convicted two high- ranking FARDC officers for sexual slavery and several other crimes and prosecuted a Congolese National Police (PNC) officer for abducting and subjecting a 13-year-old girl to sexual slavery. Punishment for one FARDC officer was 10 years’ imprisonment; sentencing for the other convicted offenders remained pending or the information was not available. In addition, the FARDC arrested and detained at least two commanders of armed groups for recruitment and use of child soldiers; two other commanders of armed groups arrested in the previous reporting period remained in detention for similar charges. Bosco Ntaganda, the former commander of the armed group M23 and formerly a FARDC commander, remained in detention and awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court for trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including conscription of children and using them

to fight and for sexual slavery; the court is considering holding the trial in the DRC. In 2014, the government trained approximately 1,514 FARDC soldiers and 183 PNC officers on issues related to child recruitment and child protection.The government did not provide specialized training to officials on combating other forms of trafficking, but the Congolese National Police and other DRC law enforcement agencies received training in human trafficking from international donors.

PROTECTION
Although the government assisted in the identification and demobilization of child soldiers, there was no information as to what services, if any, the sex trafficking victims received. The government did not report the number of victims of sex trafficking identified and it did not identify any victims of forced labor.The government lacked procedures for proactively identifying victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups, such as children living and working on the streets, women in prostitution, and men, women, and children working in artisanal mining, and for subsequently referring victims to protective services. Other than specialized services for former child soldiers, NGOs continued to provide the limited shelter, legal, medical, and psychological services available to trafficking victims. An NGO working with trafficking victims in eastern DRC reported providing assistance to 66 victims of forced labor and/or sex trafficking during the last three months of 2014.
The government continued to cooperate with UN and NGO child protection partners to implement the 2013 National Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration Plan (DDR III), through which male and female child soldiers identified during screening after an armed group surrenders are transferred immediately to UNICEF for processing and services. During this process, the National Demobilization Agency, in cooperation with United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and UNICEF, continued to separate and transport identified children to NGO-run centers for temporary housing, care, and vocational training prior to returning them to their home communities when it was deemed safe for reintegration. Reintegrated child soldiers remained vulnerable to re-recruitment, as adequate rehabilitation services did not exist for children suffering the most severe psychological trauma, stigmatization may interfere with community reintegration, and several armed groups continued to recruit children. In 2014, the FARDC released 121 children as young as 8 years old, who had been arrested, detained, and sometimes mistreated, including with beatings and deprivation of food and medical care, because of their alleged association with armed groups. Reports also indicate some children were used by security forces to gather intelligence and several children died from diseases or starvation while detained in the FARDC’s Kotakoli Camp.
In cases of sexual violence, the government reported military justice courts sometimes protect the identity of the victim from the defendant and the public. While trafficking victims could file cases against their traffickers in civil courts, there is no evidence any have done so; the public widely viewed civil courts as corrupt and believed outcomes were determined based on the relative financial means of the parties to the lawsuit. The government has consistently allowed for the safe repatriation of foreign child soldiers in cooperation with MONUSCO. No other foreign victims of other forms of trafficking were identified in the DRC in 2014.