UN rights chief deplores violence in DR Congo prisons, says conditions getting worse

UN rights chief deplores violence in DR Congo prisons, says conditions getting worse

By Sonia Rolley

Prison conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo have deteriorated, with cases of torture and sexual violence being reported in detention centres run by the intelligence services, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said.

Congo's overcrowded, violent and unsanitary prisons came under the spotlight last month after more than 260 female inmates were sexually assaulted during an attempted mass escape from the Makala Central Prison in the capital Kinshasa.

At least 129 people were killed when prison guards used live fire against the inmates trying to break free from the prison, which official figures say has a capacity of 1,500 prisoners, but housed more than 15,000 people.

High Commissioner Volker Turk said during a humans rights briefing on Tuesday that prisoners in Congo were being kept in "disastrous conditions" without access to lawyers or contact with their families.

"In detention centres run by the intelligence services, in particular, a number of detainees are subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual violence", he told the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Representatives of the U.N. Human Rights Office have repeatedly been denied access to Makala and the intelligence services' detention centres, spokesperson Seif Magango said later on Tuesday.

"We have not yet gained access to Makala Prison despite numerous letters to the relevant authorities. We also still have no access to detention centres," he told Reuters.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi's spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Congo's army, which oversee the intelligence services and their detention centres, said he had not been informed about Turk's comments.

When he came to power in 2019, Tshisekedi promised to close the intelligence services' detention centres, long notorious for violently mistreating detainees.

After last month's prison break, Tshisekedi ordered an investigation and a review of Congo's main prisons to reduce overcrowding.