DƆNÙESÈ Data Center / Women’s Rights Laws by Country / Democratic Republic of the Congo

Central Africa · Country law profile

Democratic Republic of the Congo: women’s rights and civic space laws

The Democratic Republic of the Congo ratified the Maputo Protocol in 2008, and Article 14 of its 2006 Constitution provides the basis for parity between women and men. A 2016 revision of the Family Code (Law No. 16/008) removed the requirement for a married woman to obtain her husband’s authorisation for legal acts and introduced mutual spousal consent, while a 2015 parity law lacks binding measures to raise women’s representation. Women hold 12.8% of National Assembly seats, and the CEDAW Committee examined the DRC under its exceptional reporting procedure in early 2025 because of conflict-related sexual violence in the east. Civic space is rated repressed, with censorship, internet shutdowns and attacks on journalists linked to the M23 offensive.

Women leaders at an RFLD convening. RFLD member organisations use these laws in their advocacy. Photo: RFLD, taken with the consent of participants.

At a glance

Capital	Kinshasa
Legal system	Civil law system based on Belgian and French models, with customary law applied in family and land matters
Official languages	French

Key indicators

12.8% (64 of 500)Women in National Assembly (2026)

15.6% (17 of 109)Women in Senate (2024)

60.0World Bank Women, Business and the Law 2024, legal frameworks (2024)

Regional and international treaties

Treaty	Status	Reservations or notes
Maputo Protocol	Signed 05/12/2003; ratified 09/06/2008; deposited 09/02/2009	None mentioned in SOAWR profile
CEDAW	Signed 17 July 1980; ratified 17 October 1986 (as Zaire)	None recorded
CEDAW Optional Protocol	Not signed or ratified
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child	Signed 02/02/2010; ratified 31/01/2017; deposited 08/12/2020	None listed
ICCPR	Acceded 1 November 1976
Kampala Convention	Signed 02/02/2010; ratified 03/02/2022; deposited 23/02/2022
AU Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo)	Ratified 06/03/2025; deposited 27/06/2025

Constitution

Constitution	Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo of 2006 (as amended)

National laws

Family and personal status

Law No. 16/008 of 15 July 2016 revising the Family Code

Removed the requirement for marital authorisation for married women to conduct business and other legal acts, and requires mutual consent of spouses for legal obligations.

Source: soawr.org

Nationality

Law No. 04/024 of 2004 on Congolese nationality

Described by the Citizenship Rights in Africa Initiative as allowing any child of a Congolese national to acquire citizenship.

Source: citizenshiprightsafrica.org

Rape and sexual offences

Loi n° 06/018 du 20 juillet 2006 modifiant et complétant le Décret du 30 janvier 1940 portant Code pénal congolais

Gives a broad definition of rape covering all forms of penetration and coercion, including psychological pressure, and punishes it with five to twenty years of imprisonment. It also criminalises sexual slavery and forced prostitution. Forced pregnancy is also a crime.

Gaps: Marital rape is not explicitly criminalised and many provisions remain untested by the courts.

Source: un.org

Access to justice and legal aid

Loi n° 06/019 du 20 juillet 2006 modifiant et complétant le Décret du 6 août 1959 portant Code de procédure pénale congolais

Amends criminal procedure to accompany the 2006 sexual violence offences in the Penal Code.

Gaps: Court costs remain a barrier for survivors and no national legal aid framework is cited.

Source: un.org

Gender-based and domestic violence

Loi n° 06/018 du 20 juillet 2006 modifiant et complétant le Code pénal congolais (violences sexuelles)

Serves as the main criminal law on sexual violence against women and girls in the absence of a specific domestic violence statute.

Gaps: There is no specific domestic violence law, and CEDAW experts noted in 2019 that 53 percent of women experience domestic violence or marital rape.

Source: ohchr.org

Rape and sexual offences

Loi n° 09/001 du 10 janvier 2009 portant protection de l’enfant

Applies the 2006 definition of rape to children and criminalises sexual slavery of children. It also creates specialised children’s courts.

Source: un.org

Female genital mutilation

Loi n° 06/018 du 20 juillet 2006 modifiant et complétant le Code pénal congolais, article 174

Criminalises sexual mutilation as a form of sexual violence.

Gaps: The provision is brief and FGM is not addressed by a dedicated law.

Source: un.org

Child marriage and age of marriage

Loi n° 16/008 du 15 juillet 2016 modifiant et complétant la Loi n° 87-010 du 1er août 1987 portant Code de la famille

Sets the minimum age of marriage at 18 for both girls and boys, up from 15 for girls.

Gaps: Enforcement is weak and early marriage persists under customary practice.

Source: eeas.europa.eu

Harmful practices

Loi n° 06/018 du 20 juillet 2006 modifiant et complétant le Code pénal congolais (mariage forcé)

Criminalises forcing a person into marriage, a practice often linked to customary arrangements.

Gaps: The offence is limited to persons holding parental or guardianship authority.

Source: un.org

Political participation and quotas

Loi n° 15/013 du 1er août 2015 portant modalités d’application des droits de la femme et de la parité

Implements the constitutional principle of parity and women’s rights in public and private life, and replaced the requirement of marital authorisation with joint spousal consent.

Gaps: Women held about 10 percent of National Assembly seats at the 2019 CEDAW review.

Source: legalrdc.com

Abortion and sexual and reproductive health

Loi n° 18/035 du 13 décembre 2018 fixant les principes fondamentaux relatifs à l’organisation de la santé publique

Guarantees access to contraception, gives the woman’s choice priority on family size (article 84), defines a safe motherhood package, and allows therapeutic abortion to save the woman’s life or for fetal anomalies incompatible with life (article 86).

Gaps: Article 85 bans abortion as family planning; wider grounds in the ratified Maputo Protocol, including rape, are not reflected in this law.

Source: leganet.cd

Abortion and sexual and reproductive health

Loi n° 08/011 du 14 juillet 2008 portant protection des droits des personnes vivant avec le VIH/SIDA et des personnes affectées

Protects people living with or affected by HIV against discrimination and guarantees their access to care.

Source: legalrdc.com

Girls’ education

Loi-cadre n° 14/004 du 11 février 2014 de l’enseignement national

Organises universal access to education and allows pregnant girls to continue their studies.

Gaps: In 2019 more than three million school-age children were out of school and families still paid school costs.

Source: ohchr.org

Labour and maternity

Loi n° 16/010 du 15 juillet 2016 modifiant et complétant la Loi n° 015-2002 portant Code du travail

Lifts the ban on night work for women and lets pregnant women suspend their employment contract without losing their job.

Gaps: Most women work in the informal sector, outside the protection of the code.

Source: eeas.europa.eu

Trafficking

Loi n° 06/018 du 20 juillet 2006 modifiant et complétant le Code pénal congolais, article 174 j

Criminalises trafficking and exploitation of persons for sexual purposes.

Gaps: The provision does not define trafficking and the DRC has no comprehensive anti-trafficking statute.

Source: un.org

Data protection

Ordonnance-loi n° 23/010 du 13 mars 2023 portant Code du numérique

Contains a title on the protection of personal data and creates a personal data protection authority.

Source: lexing.be

Online violence and cybercrime

Ordonnance-loi n° 23/010 du 13 mars 2023 portant Code du numérique

Sets out offences committed through digital systems as part of the first comprehensive digital code.

Source: lexing.be

Women and girls with disabilities

Loi organique n° 22/003 du 3 mai 2022 portant protection et promotion des droits des personnes vivant avec handicap

Protects and promotes the rights of persons with disabilities, including women and girls.

Source: legalrdc.com

Human rights defenders

Loi n° 23/027 du 15 juin 2023 relative à la protection et à la responsabilité du défenseur des droits humains en République démocratique du Congo

Creates a national legal framework recognising and protecting human rights defenders.

Gaps: The ministerial order needed to implement the law was still pending in February 2025.

Source: fr.allafrica.com

Civic space

CIVICUS Monitor rating	Repressed (score 26, CIVICUS Monitor 2025 findings)
Notes	CIVICUS documented censorship, internet shutdowns and targeting of journalists during the M23 offensive in the east; in 2022 it reported journalists imprisoned, attacked and killed under martial law.

Social protection

Loi n° 16/009 du 15 juillet 2016 fixant les règles relatives au régime général de la sécurité sociale

Sets the rules of the general social security scheme.

Source: faolex.fao.org

Older persons

No specific law on older persons

A bill on the rights of older persons was declared admissible by the National Assembly in December 2025 and is still pending.

Gaps: No law on the rights of older persons.

Source: acp.cd

Recent developments

21 July 2026. UN experts called for an end to torture by M23 in eastern DRC.
June 2026. UN Commission warned of an exceptionally grave human rights situation in eastern DRC.
27 June 2025. DRC deposited its ratification of the AU Malabo Convention.
February 2025. CEDAW Committee published concluding observations on the DRC under its exceptional reporting procedure.

Reforms recommended

Reforms recommended by the African Commission, UN treaty bodies or national organisations, as reported in the sources below.

Ratify the CEDAW Optional Protocol.
Adopt binding parity measures, such as list placement rules and sanctions, to implement Article 14 of the Constitution.
Align the Penal Code with Article 14 of the Maputo Protocol so that safe abortion services are legally clear for survivors of sexual violence.

Being verified. RFLD is checking the laws on the following topics against official texts and will add them to this page: sexual harassment, inheritance and succession, land and property, vulnerable groups. Corrections and documents are welcome at programs@rflgd.org.

African Union treaties

Status of 29 African Union treaties as recorded in the official AU status lists published by the African Union Commission. The date of each list is shown: a ratification deposited after that date may not appear yet. 7 of the 13 human rights and governance treaties below are ratified.

AU treaty	Status	AU list dated
Maputo Protocol (rights of women)	Ratified 09/06/2008	19/09/2023
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights	Ratified 20/07/1987	15/06/2017
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child	Ratified 31/01/2017	14/02/2023
Protocol establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights	Ratified 31/01/2017	14/02/2023
African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance	Signed 2008, not ratified	08/07/2024
AU Convention on Ending Violence against Women and Girls	Signed 2025, not ratified	22/05/2026
Protocol on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities	Not signed	22/05/2026
Protocol on the Rights of Older Persons	Not signed	22/05/2026
Protocol on Social Protection and Social Security	Not signed	22/05/2026
African Youth Charter	Signed 2008, not ratified	19/09/2023
OAU Refugee Convention	Ratified 14/02/1973	16/05/2019
AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption	Ratified 03/02/2022	14/02/2023
AU Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo)	Ratified 06/03/2025	02/02/2026

Other AU treaties (16)

AU treaty	Status	AU list dated
Protocol on Free Movement of Persons	Signed 2018, not ratified	08/08/2023
Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights	Signed 2010, not ratified	18/06/2020
Protocol on Amendments to the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (Malabo Protocol)	Not signed	22/05/2026
Protocol of the Court of Justice of the African Union	Signed 2010, not ratified	18/06/2020
Protocol on the Peace and Security Council	Ratified 16/04/2022	27/04/2022
Protocol to the OAU Convention on Terrorism	Signed 2008, not ratified	15/06/2017
OAU Convention on Mercenarism	Ratified 13/07/1979	15/06/2017
Charter on Decentralisation, Local Governance and Local Development	Not signed	25/03/2022
Charter on Public Service and Administration	Signed 2013, not ratified	08/07/2024
African Charter on Statistics	Signed 2010, not ratified	19/09/2023
Statute of the Pan African Intellectual Property Organization	Not signed	19/09/2023
African Road Safety Charter	Not signed	22/05/2026
Revised African Maritime Transport Charter	Not signed	25/03/2022
Phyto-sanitary Convention for Africa	Not signed	15/06/2017
Convention establishing the African Centre for Fertilizer Development	Signed 1986, not ratified	19/09/2023
Constitution of the Association of African Trade Promotion Organizations	Signed 1974, not ratified	16/05/2019

Sources (22)

Other countries in Central Africa

BurundiCountry law profile CameroonCountry law profile Central African RepublicCountry law profile ChadCountry law profile Equatorial GuineaCountry law profile GabonCountry law profile Republic of the CongoCountry law profile São Tomé and PríncipeCountry law profile

Information verified as of October 2026. This page is for information and advocacy and is not legal advice. Laws change: check the official text before relying on it. Part of the DƆNÙESÈ Data Center of the Women Leaders Network for Development (RFLD). See also the Maputo Protocol Hub and the Maputo Barometer.

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