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Sanctions:
(EU) No 7/2012 implemented on of 5 January 2012
amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1183/2005 imposing
certain specific restrictive measures directed against persons
acting in violation of the arms embargo with regard to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Read Regulation
EU Commission implemented Regulation (EU) No 1097/2011 of
25 October 2011 amending Council Regulation (EC) No
1183/2005 imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed
against persons acting in violation of the arms embargo with
regard to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Read Regulation
By the adoption of Resolution 1493 on 28 July 2003, the United
Nations, imposed an arms embargo by which all States were
requested to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer
of arms and any related material and the provision of any
assistance, advice or training related to military activities to all
foreign and Congolese armed groups and militias operating in the
territory of North and South Kivu and in the Ituri District and to
groups not party to the Global and All-Inclusive Agreement on the
transition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
By the adoption of Resolution 1596 on 18 April 2005, the United
Nations extended the arms embargo to apply to any recipient in
the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and
introduced a travel ban and assets freeze on those persons
violating the embargo as designated by the UN Sanctions
Committee. A list of designated persons was first published by the
Sanctions Committee on 1 November 2005.
For further information:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/fin_sanctions_congo.htm
For further information on US sanctions, please go to the following
link: -
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-
center/sanctions/Programs/pages/drc.aspx
____________________________________________________
Offshore Jurisdiction Blacklists – Further Information:
Information unavailable.
____________________________________________________
US State Department Money Laundering Report - 2011:
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is not considered a
regional financial center. The DRC’s economy remains highly
dollarized, and its parallel foreign exchange market is large and
tolerated by the government. There is a preponderance of
fiduciary/paper currency in all financial transactions. The DRC
does not have any areas designated as free trade zones or have
any free ports.
Due to its large geographic size, lack of a functional judicial
system and dominant informal sector, the DRC is particularly
vulnerable to money laundering. The DRC covers an area of
almost 1 million square kilometers (400,000 sq. mi), and has
7,000 km of porous borders with nine countries. Administration of
the country is weak because of its vast geographic territory and
dilapidated infrastructure, among other challenges. Most
economic activity in the DRC takes place in the informal sector,
estimated to be up to ten times the size of the formal sector, with
most transactions, even those of legitimate businesses, carried
out in cash. The accurate reporting of revenues is thus very
difficult. Major sources of money laundering in the DRC include
illegal import/export activities, customs and tax fraud, tax evasion,
misappropriation of public funds, exploitation of minerals and
other valuable materials, casinos, the sale of prohibited products
and services, and chronically low wages which force people to
resort to bribery. Money laundering in the DRC is neither primarily
nor significantly related to narcotics proceeds.
DO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ENGAGE IN CURRENCY
TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS
TRAFFICKING THAT INCLUDE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF US
CURRENCY; CURRENCY DERIVED FROM ILLEGAL SALES IN
THE U.S., OR THAT OTHERWISE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE
U.S.: NO
CRIMINALIZATION OF MONEY LAUNDERING:
“All serious crimes” approach or “list” approach to predicate
crimes: All serious crimes
Legal persons covered: criminally: YES civilly: YES
CRIMINALIZATION OF TERRORIST FINANCING:
Ability to freeze terrorist assets without delay: YES
UN lists of designated terrorists or terrorist entities distributed to
financial institutions: YES
(Please refer to the Department of State’s Country Reports on
Terrorism, which can be found here: http://www.state.
gov/s/ct/rls/crt)
KNOW-YOUR- CUSTOMER RULES:
Covered entities: Congolese Central Bank (BCC), banks, credit
institutions, money transfer institutions, financial companies,
microfinance institutions, money exchangers, insurance
companies, leasing companies, financial intermediaries, postal
checking systems, transferable securities and stock exchange
market operations, gaming companies, notaries, members of
independent legal professions, real estate agencies, funds
conveyors, travel agencies, auditors, certified public accountants,
external auditors, tax consultants, sellers of art, antiques and
precious stones
Enhanced due diligence procedures for PEPs: Foreign: YES
Domestic: YES
SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS:
Covered entities: Congolese Central Bank (BCC), banks, credit
institutions, money transfer institutions, financial companies,
microfinance institutions, money exchangers, insurance
companies, leasing companies, financial intermediaries, postal
checking systems, transferable securities and stock exchange
market operations, gaming companies, notaries, members of
independent legal professions, real estate agencies, funds
conveyors, travel agencies, auditors, certified public accountants,
external auditors, tax consultants, sellers of art, antiques and
precious stones
Number of STRs received and time frame: 0
Number of CTRs received and time frame: 0
MONEY LAUNDERING CRIMINAL
PROSECUTIONS/CONVICTIONS:
Prosecutions: 0
Convictions: 0
Assets forfeited: criminally: Not available civilly: Not available
RECORDS EXCHANGE MECHANISM:
With U.S.: NO
With other governments/jurisdictions: NO
The DRC is a not a member of any Financial Action Task Force
(FATF)-style regional body.
ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES AND
COMMENTS
The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(GDRC) passed legislation in July 2004 criminalizing money
laundering and terrorist financing. Banks and non-banking
financial institutions are required to report all transactions over
$10,000. Banks find this requirement burdensome, since 90
percent of transactions using the banking system meet this
threshold. New computerized communications and accounting
networks have been installed in banks, which will make it easier to
trace formal financial transactions. In September 2008, the GDRC
established a Financial Intelligence Unit (CENAREF) to combat
money laundering and misappropriation of public funds.
CENAREF is responsible for collecting and analyzing information
on money laundering and terrorist financing cases. CENAREF
also investigates persons accused of money laundering and
terrorist financing, conducts periodic studies on these subjects
and advises the GDRC on how to combat money laundering
related crimes. However, limited resources hamper the
government’s ability to implement and enforce anti-money
laundering regulations, and local institutions and personnel lack
training and capacity to fully enforce the law and its attendant
regulations. Lack of funding continues to prevent CENAREF from
fully carrying out its responsibilities. Inefficient and burdensome
customs and tax policies, a weak judicial system and widespread
corruption also negatively impact enforcement. The DRC is
ranked 164 out of 178 countries surveyed in Transparency
International’s 2010 International Corruption Perception Index.
The DRC should become a party to the UN Convention against
Corruption and the UN Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime.
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Narcotics Report 2011:
Marijuana is grown throughout the DRC, as it is throughout the
region, but consumption of DRC’s domestic marijuana is largely
confined to the domestic market. There are no available statistics
concerning acreage or yield in the country. There is no coca or
opium production in the DRC. No evidence exists to determine
that any controlled substances are manufactured in the DRC.
Although known bulk shipments of pseudoephedrine entering the
country could be an indicator that methamphetamine is being
produced, more likely the shipments are diverted for production of
meth elsewhere. There is no sizable methamphetamine user
population in the DRC.
The three major DRC transit points for illegal drugs are the Ndjili
International Airport at Kinshasa, the major seaport of Matadi, and
the ferry crossing between Brazzaville, Congo and Kinshasa,
DRC. Traffickers in the DRC are involved in the transshipment of
drugs from the DRC to several countries in Europe. Couriers
transiting through the DRC have been arrested with significant
quantities of heroin, cannabis and cocaine in several west
European countries and Canada. Significant seized shipments of
pseudoephedrine into the DRC have been identified as diversions
headed for the illicit methamphetamine market.
Funding for drug awareness training, demand reduction and
treatment is scarce in the DRC. Congolese authorities believe that
the use of marijuana, as well as abuse of licit drugs such as
amphetamines and tranquilizers, has increased steadily over past
years. The government does not maintain accurate statistics on
drug abuse, and thus, the extent of the problem is unknown.
Marijuana is widely used in the DRC, as it is throughout sub-
Saharan Africa.
Cocaine and heroin abuse is most likely confined to the capital,
Kinshasa, as well as some areas that have expatriate
communities, such as Goma. Eastern areas of the country are the
loci for the highest demand for cocaine and heroin. Congolese
use of cocaine and heroin is cost prohibitive so it is possible that
UN peacekeepers and other expatriate residents of the Eastern
Congo are among those abusing these drugs.
The DRC continues to operate with antiquated drug laws and
regulations. Marijuana regulations and laws were enacted in
1917, based on The Hague Convention of 1903. Laws and
regulations controlling other narcotics were enacted in 1927
based on The Hague Conventions of 1912 and 1925. The
Belgium Convention of 1941 is also still in force. Laws and
regulations used to control the production and trafficking of opium
were enacted in 1958 based on the international protocol of 1953.
The DRC has signed on to the Rome Statute regarding the
surrender of persons to the International Criminal Court, which
entered into force in July 2003. The DRC is a party to the 1988
UN Drug Convention.
Drug enforcement efforts, however, are largely opaque in the
DRC, and local police and customs officials are underpaid,
undertrained and generally ineffective. Corruption, at various
levels, possibly facilitates a wide range of criminal activity, to
include drug trafficking. The DRC does not encourage or facilitate
illicit production or distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic
substances, nor does it encourage or facilitate the laundering of
proceeds from illegal drug transactions. There is also no proof
that senior officials engage in drug trafficking, certainly not in an
official capacity. However, corruption in conjunction with narcotics
trafficking is thought to be widespread, possibly reaching into the
highest levels of the government.
Narcotics control is not a priority in the DRC. Relative to
neighboring African nations, drug enforcement in the DRC suffers
from a lack of resources and training. Law enforcement officials in
the DRC are not capable of conducting traditional drug
enforcement investigations. The effectiveness of host government
counter-narcotics efforts therefore is greatly reduced by the lack
of expertise, training, equipment, and funding.
The DRC does not encourage or facilitate illicit production or
distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, nor
does it encourage or facilitate the laundering of proceeds from
illegal drug transactions. There is also no proof that senior
officials engage in drug trafficking, certainly not in an official
capacity. However, corruption in conjunction with narcotics
trafficking is thought to be widespread, possibly reaching into the
highest levels of the government.
The DRC cooperates very little with its neighboring countries
concerning counter drug operations. Officials from the DRC did
attend the most recent United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) Heads of Narcotics and Law Enforcement Agencies
(HONLEA) conference held in Windhoek, Namibia in October
2009. For the present, other problems in the DRC seem logically
more urgent than drug abuse or trafficking, but drug abuse is
growing, so the government will need to be wary of this
development.
For Full report, click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2011
(introduction):
(Tier 3)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a source and
destination country for men, women, and children subjected to
forced labor and sex trafficking. The majority of this trafficking is
internal, and while much of it is perpetrated by armed groups and
rogue elements of government forces outside government control
in the country’s unstable eastern provinces, incidents of trafficking
occur throughout all 11 provinces. A significant number of
unlicensed Congolese artisanal miners – men and boys – are
exploited in situations of debt bondage by businessmen and
supply dealers from whom they acquire cash advances, tools,
food, and other provisions at inflated prices, and to whom they
must sell the mined minerals at prices below the market value.
The miners are forced to continue to work to repay constantly
accumulating debts that are virtually impossible to repay.
Throughout the year, in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Katanga
Provinces, armed groups – such as the Democratic Forces for the
Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) – and Congolese national army
(FARDC) troops routinely used threats and coercion to force men
and children to mine for minerals, turn over their mineral
production, pay illegal “taxes,” or carry looted goods from mining
villages. There were reports that, following the government’s
September 2010 order attempting to suspend all mining activities
in the three eastern provinces, the military’s control of the mines
intensified and that some FARDC elements increased their use of
forced labor in the mines, though FARDC spokesmen repeatedly
denied such allegations. In January 2011, for example, the UN
Organization Stabilization Mission in the Congo (MONUSCO)
reported that the Commander of the 21st Sector of the FARDC
was using forced child labor in the mines located in Bisiye (North
Kivu Province).
Congolese girls are forcibly prostituted in tent- or hut-based
brothels or informal camps – including in markets and mining
areas – by loosely organized networks, gangs, and brothel
operators. Congolese women and children are exploited within the
country in conditions of domestic servitude and migrate to Angola,
South Africa, Republic of the Congo, as well as East African,
Middle Eastern, and European nations, where some are exploited
in forced prostitution, domestic servitude, and forced agricultural
labor. Chinese women and girls in Kinshasa reportedly work in
Chinese-owned massage centers, where some were likely
subjected to forced prostitution; Congolese police identified 11
trafficked Chinese women in forced prostitution in a karaoke bar in
Kinshasa during the reporting period. Some members of Batwa, or
pygmy groups, are subjected to conditions of forced labor in
agriculture, mining, and domestic service throughout the DRC.
Indigenous and foreign armed militia groups, notably the FDLR,
Patriotes Resistants Congolais (PARECO), various local militia
(Mai-Mai), the Alliance des patriots pour un Congo libre et
souverain (APCLS), and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA),
continued to abduct and forcibly recruit Congolese men, women,
and children to bolster their ranks and serve as laborers, porters,
domestics, combatants, and sex slaves. For example, between
July 30 and August 2, 2010, a coalition of the FDLR, Mai Mai
Cheka, and combatants lead by Colonel Emmanuel Nsengiyumva,
a former member of both the National Congress for the Defense
of the People (CNDP) – a former Congolese rebel group – and the
FARDC, abducted 116 civilians from 13 villages in Walikale area
and subjected them to forced labor. Between January and
September 2010, the LRA violently abducted more than 279
Congolese citizens, including 184 children, in and near Orientale
Province; some of these abductees were later taken to southern
Sudan or Central African Republic. Likewise, abducted Sudanese
and Central African citizens experienced conditions of forced
labor and sexual servitude at the hands of the LRA after being
forcibly taken to the DRC.
In 2010, the FARDC actively recruited, at times through force,
men and children for use as combatants, escorts, and porters.
From September to December 2010, for example, there were 121
confirmed cases of unlawful child soldier recruitment attributed to
loosely integrated ex-CNDP elements of the FARDC, particularly
those commanded by Bosco Ntaganda, Colonel Innocent
Zimurinda, and Colonel Baudouin Ngaruye. In mid-2010, ex-CNDP
elements under the control of these FARDC commanders
recruited school children in Masisi and Rutshuru territories (North
Kivu) with offers of $50; these forces reportedly demanded that
teachers and headmasters provide them with lists of children
formerly associated with armed groups who had been reunified
with their families. An unspecified number of children recruited by
the CNDP prior to its incorporation into the Congolese military
remain within integrated FARDC units and have not been
demobilized. In December 2010, the UN Security Council imposed
travel bans and asset freezes on FARDC Colonel Innocent
Zimurinda for grave violations against children, including
recruitment and use of child soldiers, arbitrary executions of child
soldiers, refusal to release child soldiers, and denial of
humanitarian access for a screening of his troops to remove
children from his ranks; MONUSCO documented two cases of
unlawful child recruitment by officers reporting to Colonel
Zimurinda in August and September 2010.
In addition, FARDC elements pressed hundreds of civilians – men,
women, and children, including internally displaced persons and
prisoners – into forced labor to carry ammunition, supplies, and
looted goods, to fetch water and firewood, to serve as guides and
domestic laborers, to mine for minerals, or to construct military
facilities and temporary huts. Those who resisted were sometimes
killed; others died under the weight of heavy loads. There were
unconfirmed reports that policemen and members of other
security forces in eastern DRC arrested people arbitrarily in order
to extort money from them; those who could not pay were forced
to work until they had “earned” their freedom.
The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo does
not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. However,
it did demonstrate increased willingness to engage with the
international community on certain types of human trafficking
occurring within the country. Elements of the national army
increasingly perpetrated severe human trafficking abuses during
the year, including forcibly recruiting children and using local
populations to perform forced labor; some army commanders
actively blocked – with complete impunity – efforts to monitor and
remove children from their units, obstruction which has persisted
for nearly two years. Furthermore, a number of FARDC
commanders accused of child soldiering and forced labor abuses
in previous reporting periods remained in leadership positions
within the army and were not investigated, disciplined in any way,
or brought to trial. The FARDC lacked sufficient command and
control to compel many commanders to comply with standing
orders to release children serving under them or adequately
prevent the trafficking violations committed by members of its
forces, and ongoing military operations in the eastern part of the
country limited the government’s attention to human trafficking.
The government did not show evidence of progress in punishing
labor or sex trafficking offenders among members of its own
armed forces, but took initial steps investigating three suspected
sex and labor trafficking cases. Other advances were noted in
demobilizing children from fighting factions, including some from
the national army. The government failed, however, to provide
protective services for the vast majority of trafficking victims or to
raise public awareness of human trafficking. The government
continued to lack sufficient financial, technical, and human
resources to effectively address trafficking crimes and provide
basic levels of security and social services in most parts of the
country. The country’s criminal and military justice systems,
including the police, courts, and prisons, were challenged by the
shortage of human, material, and financial resources; there were
few functioning courts or secure prisons in the country.
For full report click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Terrorism Report 2010
Overview: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a vast
country bordered by nine neighbors; the government did not have
complete control over significant swathes of its territories,
especially in the east where various armed groups operate. The
DRC is home to a large Lebanese expatriate community (several
thousand), some of whom ran businesses linked to Hizballah
fundraising.
Legislation and Law Enforcement: The Democratic Republic of
Congo has no comprehensive counterterrorism legislation and
has little capacity to enforce law and order in its vast territory.
Countering Terrorist Finance: The Democratic Republic of Congo
has legislation criminalizing money laundering and terrorist
financing, as well as a Financial Intelligence Unit. Many banks
installed new computerized communications and accounting
networks, which made it easier to trace formal financial
transactions. Limited resources and a weak judicial system
hampered the government's ability to enforce anti-money
laundering (AML) regulations, however, and local institutions and
personnel lacked the training and capacity to enforce the law and
its attendant regulations fully. To date, the DRC has not
completed any money laundering prosecutions or convictions.
Regional and International Cooperation: In 2010, the DRC ratified
the International Convention for Suppression of Acts of Nuclear
Terrorism in 2010. At year’s end, the AU was working on
establishing a joint brigade and operations center that would
include the Central African Republic, Uganda, Sudan, and the
DRC.
____________________________________________________
Links:
Worldwide AML Legislation (International Bar Association)
(EU) No 7/2012 implemented on of 5 January 2012
amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1183/2005 imposing
certain specific restrictive measures directed against persons
acting in violation of the arms embargo with regard to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Read Regulation
EU Commission implemented Regulation (EU) No 1097/2011 of
25 October 2011 amending Council Regulation (EC) No
1183/2005 imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed
against persons acting in violation of the arms embargo with
regard to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Read Regulation
By the adoption of Resolution 1493 on 28 July 2003, the United
Nations, imposed an arms embargo by which all States were
requested to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer
of arms and any related material and the provision of any
assistance, advice or training related to military activities to all
foreign and Congolese armed groups and militias operating in the
territory of North and South Kivu and in the Ituri District and to
groups not party to the Global and All-Inclusive Agreement on the
transition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
By the adoption of Resolution 1596 on 18 April 2005, the United
Nations extended the arms embargo to apply to any recipient in
the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and
introduced a travel ban and assets freeze on those persons
violating the embargo as designated by the UN Sanctions
Committee. A list of designated persons was first published by the
Sanctions Committee on 1 November 2005.
For further information:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/fin_sanctions_congo.htm
For further information on US sanctions, please go to the following
link: -
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-
center/sanctions/Programs/pages/drc.aspx
____________________________________________________
Offshore Jurisdiction Blacklists – Further Information:
Information unavailable.
____________________________________________________
US State Department Money Laundering Report - 2011:
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is not considered a
regional financial center. The DRC’s economy remains highly
dollarized, and its parallel foreign exchange market is large and
tolerated by the government. There is a preponderance of
fiduciary/paper currency in all financial transactions. The DRC
does not have any areas designated as free trade zones or have
any free ports.
Due to its large geographic size, lack of a functional judicial
system and dominant informal sector, the DRC is particularly
vulnerable to money laundering. The DRC covers an area of
almost 1 million square kilometers (400,000 sq. mi), and has
7,000 km of porous borders with nine countries. Administration of
the country is weak because of its vast geographic territory and
dilapidated infrastructure, among other challenges. Most
economic activity in the DRC takes place in the informal sector,
estimated to be up to ten times the size of the formal sector, with
most transactions, even those of legitimate businesses, carried
out in cash. The accurate reporting of revenues is thus very
difficult. Major sources of money laundering in the DRC include
illegal import/export activities, customs and tax fraud, tax evasion,
misappropriation of public funds, exploitation of minerals and
other valuable materials, casinos, the sale of prohibited products
and services, and chronically low wages which force people to
resort to bribery. Money laundering in the DRC is neither primarily
nor significantly related to narcotics proceeds.
DO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ENGAGE IN CURRENCY
TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS
TRAFFICKING THAT INCLUDE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF US
CURRENCY; CURRENCY DERIVED FROM ILLEGAL SALES IN
THE U.S., OR THAT OTHERWISE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE
U.S.: NO
CRIMINALIZATION OF MONEY LAUNDERING:
“All serious crimes” approach or “list” approach to predicate
crimes: All serious crimes
Legal persons covered: criminally: YES civilly: YES
CRIMINALIZATION OF TERRORIST FINANCING:
Ability to freeze terrorist assets without delay: YES
UN lists of designated terrorists or terrorist entities distributed to
financial institutions: YES
(Please refer to the Department of State’s Country Reports on
Terrorism, which can be found here: http://www.state.
gov/s/ct/rls/crt)
KNOW-YOUR- CUSTOMER RULES:
Covered entities: Congolese Central Bank (BCC), banks, credit
institutions, money transfer institutions, financial companies,
microfinance institutions, money exchangers, insurance
companies, leasing companies, financial intermediaries, postal
checking systems, transferable securities and stock exchange
market operations, gaming companies, notaries, members of
independent legal professions, real estate agencies, funds
conveyors, travel agencies, auditors, certified public accountants,
external auditors, tax consultants, sellers of art, antiques and
precious stones
Enhanced due diligence procedures for PEPs: Foreign: YES
Domestic: YES
SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS:
Covered entities: Congolese Central Bank (BCC), banks, credit
institutions, money transfer institutions, financial companies,
microfinance institutions, money exchangers, insurance
companies, leasing companies, financial intermediaries, postal
checking systems, transferable securities and stock exchange
market operations, gaming companies, notaries, members of
independent legal professions, real estate agencies, funds
conveyors, travel agencies, auditors, certified public accountants,
external auditors, tax consultants, sellers of art, antiques and
precious stones
Number of STRs received and time frame: 0
Number of CTRs received and time frame: 0
MONEY LAUNDERING CRIMINAL
PROSECUTIONS/CONVICTIONS:
Prosecutions: 0
Convictions: 0
Assets forfeited: criminally: Not available civilly: Not available
RECORDS EXCHANGE MECHANISM:
With U.S.: NO
With other governments/jurisdictions: NO
The DRC is a not a member of any Financial Action Task Force
(FATF)-style regional body.
ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES AND
COMMENTS
The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(GDRC) passed legislation in July 2004 criminalizing money
laundering and terrorist financing. Banks and non-banking
financial institutions are required to report all transactions over
$10,000. Banks find this requirement burdensome, since 90
percent of transactions using the banking system meet this
threshold. New computerized communications and accounting
networks have been installed in banks, which will make it easier to
trace formal financial transactions. In September 2008, the GDRC
established a Financial Intelligence Unit (CENAREF) to combat
money laundering and misappropriation of public funds.
CENAREF is responsible for collecting and analyzing information
on money laundering and terrorist financing cases. CENAREF
also investigates persons accused of money laundering and
terrorist financing, conducts periodic studies on these subjects
and advises the GDRC on how to combat money laundering
related crimes. However, limited resources hamper the
government’s ability to implement and enforce anti-money
laundering regulations, and local institutions and personnel lack
training and capacity to fully enforce the law and its attendant
regulations. Lack of funding continues to prevent CENAREF from
fully carrying out its responsibilities. Inefficient and burdensome
customs and tax policies, a weak judicial system and widespread
corruption also negatively impact enforcement. The DRC is
ranked 164 out of 178 countries surveyed in Transparency
International’s 2010 International Corruption Perception Index.
The DRC should become a party to the UN Convention against
Corruption and the UN Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime.
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Narcotics Report 2011:
Marijuana is grown throughout the DRC, as it is throughout the
region, but consumption of DRC’s domestic marijuana is largely
confined to the domestic market. There are no available statistics
concerning acreage or yield in the country. There is no coca or
opium production in the DRC. No evidence exists to determine
that any controlled substances are manufactured in the DRC.
Although known bulk shipments of pseudoephedrine entering the
country could be an indicator that methamphetamine is being
produced, more likely the shipments are diverted for production of
meth elsewhere. There is no sizable methamphetamine user
population in the DRC.
The three major DRC transit points for illegal drugs are the Ndjili
International Airport at Kinshasa, the major seaport of Matadi, and
the ferry crossing between Brazzaville, Congo and Kinshasa,
DRC. Traffickers in the DRC are involved in the transshipment of
drugs from the DRC to several countries in Europe. Couriers
transiting through the DRC have been arrested with significant
quantities of heroin, cannabis and cocaine in several west
European countries and Canada. Significant seized shipments of
pseudoephedrine into the DRC have been identified as diversions
headed for the illicit methamphetamine market.
Funding for drug awareness training, demand reduction and
treatment is scarce in the DRC. Congolese authorities believe that
the use of marijuana, as well as abuse of licit drugs such as
amphetamines and tranquilizers, has increased steadily over past
years. The government does not maintain accurate statistics on
drug abuse, and thus, the extent of the problem is unknown.
Marijuana is widely used in the DRC, as it is throughout sub-
Saharan Africa.
Cocaine and heroin abuse is most likely confined to the capital,
Kinshasa, as well as some areas that have expatriate
communities, such as Goma. Eastern areas of the country are the
loci for the highest demand for cocaine and heroin. Congolese
use of cocaine and heroin is cost prohibitive so it is possible that
UN peacekeepers and other expatriate residents of the Eastern
Congo are among those abusing these drugs.
The DRC continues to operate with antiquated drug laws and
regulations. Marijuana regulations and laws were enacted in
1917, based on The Hague Convention of 1903. Laws and
regulations controlling other narcotics were enacted in 1927
based on The Hague Conventions of 1912 and 1925. The
Belgium Convention of 1941 is also still in force. Laws and
regulations used to control the production and trafficking of opium
were enacted in 1958 based on the international protocol of 1953.
The DRC has signed on to the Rome Statute regarding the
surrender of persons to the International Criminal Court, which
entered into force in July 2003. The DRC is a party to the 1988
UN Drug Convention.
Drug enforcement efforts, however, are largely opaque in the
DRC, and local police and customs officials are underpaid,
undertrained and generally ineffective. Corruption, at various
levels, possibly facilitates a wide range of criminal activity, to
include drug trafficking. The DRC does not encourage or facilitate
illicit production or distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic
substances, nor does it encourage or facilitate the laundering of
proceeds from illegal drug transactions. There is also no proof
that senior officials engage in drug trafficking, certainly not in an
official capacity. However, corruption in conjunction with narcotics
trafficking is thought to be widespread, possibly reaching into the
highest levels of the government.
Narcotics control is not a priority in the DRC. Relative to
neighboring African nations, drug enforcement in the DRC suffers
from a lack of resources and training. Law enforcement officials in
the DRC are not capable of conducting traditional drug
enforcement investigations. The effectiveness of host government
counter-narcotics efforts therefore is greatly reduced by the lack
of expertise, training, equipment, and funding.
The DRC does not encourage or facilitate illicit production or
distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, nor
does it encourage or facilitate the laundering of proceeds from
illegal drug transactions. There is also no proof that senior
officials engage in drug trafficking, certainly not in an official
capacity. However, corruption in conjunction with narcotics
trafficking is thought to be widespread, possibly reaching into the
highest levels of the government.
The DRC cooperates very little with its neighboring countries
concerning counter drug operations. Officials from the DRC did
attend the most recent United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) Heads of Narcotics and Law Enforcement Agencies
(HONLEA) conference held in Windhoek, Namibia in October
2009. For the present, other problems in the DRC seem logically
more urgent than drug abuse or trafficking, but drug abuse is
growing, so the government will need to be wary of this
development.
For Full report, click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2011
(introduction):
(Tier 3)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a source and
destination country for men, women, and children subjected to
forced labor and sex trafficking. The majority of this trafficking is
internal, and while much of it is perpetrated by armed groups and
rogue elements of government forces outside government control
in the country’s unstable eastern provinces, incidents of trafficking
occur throughout all 11 provinces. A significant number of
unlicensed Congolese artisanal miners – men and boys – are
exploited in situations of debt bondage by businessmen and
supply dealers from whom they acquire cash advances, tools,
food, and other provisions at inflated prices, and to whom they
must sell the mined minerals at prices below the market value.
The miners are forced to continue to work to repay constantly
accumulating debts that are virtually impossible to repay.
Throughout the year, in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Katanga
Provinces, armed groups – such as the Democratic Forces for the
Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) – and Congolese national army
(FARDC) troops routinely used threats and coercion to force men
and children to mine for minerals, turn over their mineral
production, pay illegal “taxes,” or carry looted goods from mining
villages. There were reports that, following the government’s
September 2010 order attempting to suspend all mining activities
in the three eastern provinces, the military’s control of the mines
intensified and that some FARDC elements increased their use of
forced labor in the mines, though FARDC spokesmen repeatedly
denied such allegations. In January 2011, for example, the UN
Organization Stabilization Mission in the Congo (MONUSCO)
reported that the Commander of the 21st Sector of the FARDC
was using forced child labor in the mines located in Bisiye (North
Kivu Province).
Congolese girls are forcibly prostituted in tent- or hut-based
brothels or informal camps – including in markets and mining
areas – by loosely organized networks, gangs, and brothel
operators. Congolese women and children are exploited within the
country in conditions of domestic servitude and migrate to Angola,
South Africa, Republic of the Congo, as well as East African,
Middle Eastern, and European nations, where some are exploited
in forced prostitution, domestic servitude, and forced agricultural
labor. Chinese women and girls in Kinshasa reportedly work in
Chinese-owned massage centers, where some were likely
subjected to forced prostitution; Congolese police identified 11
trafficked Chinese women in forced prostitution in a karaoke bar in
Kinshasa during the reporting period. Some members of Batwa, or
pygmy groups, are subjected to conditions of forced labor in
agriculture, mining, and domestic service throughout the DRC.
Indigenous and foreign armed militia groups, notably the FDLR,
Patriotes Resistants Congolais (PARECO), various local militia
(Mai-Mai), the Alliance des patriots pour un Congo libre et
souverain (APCLS), and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA),
continued to abduct and forcibly recruit Congolese men, women,
and children to bolster their ranks and serve as laborers, porters,
domestics, combatants, and sex slaves. For example, between
July 30 and August 2, 2010, a coalition of the FDLR, Mai Mai
Cheka, and combatants lead by Colonel Emmanuel Nsengiyumva,
a former member of both the National Congress for the Defense
of the People (CNDP) – a former Congolese rebel group – and the
FARDC, abducted 116 civilians from 13 villages in Walikale area
and subjected them to forced labor. Between January and
September 2010, the LRA violently abducted more than 279
Congolese citizens, including 184 children, in and near Orientale
Province; some of these abductees were later taken to southern
Sudan or Central African Republic. Likewise, abducted Sudanese
and Central African citizens experienced conditions of forced
labor and sexual servitude at the hands of the LRA after being
forcibly taken to the DRC.
In 2010, the FARDC actively recruited, at times through force,
men and children for use as combatants, escorts, and porters.
From September to December 2010, for example, there were 121
confirmed cases of unlawful child soldier recruitment attributed to
loosely integrated ex-CNDP elements of the FARDC, particularly
those commanded by Bosco Ntaganda, Colonel Innocent
Zimurinda, and Colonel Baudouin Ngaruye. In mid-2010, ex-CNDP
elements under the control of these FARDC commanders
recruited school children in Masisi and Rutshuru territories (North
Kivu) with offers of $50; these forces reportedly demanded that
teachers and headmasters provide them with lists of children
formerly associated with armed groups who had been reunified
with their families. An unspecified number of children recruited by
the CNDP prior to its incorporation into the Congolese military
remain within integrated FARDC units and have not been
demobilized. In December 2010, the UN Security Council imposed
travel bans and asset freezes on FARDC Colonel Innocent
Zimurinda for grave violations against children, including
recruitment and use of child soldiers, arbitrary executions of child
soldiers, refusal to release child soldiers, and denial of
humanitarian access for a screening of his troops to remove
children from his ranks; MONUSCO documented two cases of
unlawful child recruitment by officers reporting to Colonel
Zimurinda in August and September 2010.
In addition, FARDC elements pressed hundreds of civilians – men,
women, and children, including internally displaced persons and
prisoners – into forced labor to carry ammunition, supplies, and
looted goods, to fetch water and firewood, to serve as guides and
domestic laborers, to mine for minerals, or to construct military
facilities and temporary huts. Those who resisted were sometimes
killed; others died under the weight of heavy loads. There were
unconfirmed reports that policemen and members of other
security forces in eastern DRC arrested people arbitrarily in order
to extort money from them; those who could not pay were forced
to work until they had “earned” their freedom.
The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo does
not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. However,
it did demonstrate increased willingness to engage with the
international community on certain types of human trafficking
occurring within the country. Elements of the national army
increasingly perpetrated severe human trafficking abuses during
the year, including forcibly recruiting children and using local
populations to perform forced labor; some army commanders
actively blocked – with complete impunity – efforts to monitor and
remove children from their units, obstruction which has persisted
for nearly two years. Furthermore, a number of FARDC
commanders accused of child soldiering and forced labor abuses
in previous reporting periods remained in leadership positions
within the army and were not investigated, disciplined in any way,
or brought to trial. The FARDC lacked sufficient command and
control to compel many commanders to comply with standing
orders to release children serving under them or adequately
prevent the trafficking violations committed by members of its
forces, and ongoing military operations in the eastern part of the
country limited the government’s attention to human trafficking.
The government did not show evidence of progress in punishing
labor or sex trafficking offenders among members of its own
armed forces, but took initial steps investigating three suspected
sex and labor trafficking cases. Other advances were noted in
demobilizing children from fighting factions, including some from
the national army. The government failed, however, to provide
protective services for the vast majority of trafficking victims or to
raise public awareness of human trafficking. The government
continued to lack sufficient financial, technical, and human
resources to effectively address trafficking crimes and provide
basic levels of security and social services in most parts of the
country. The country’s criminal and military justice systems,
including the police, courts, and prisons, were challenged by the
shortage of human, material, and financial resources; there were
few functioning courts or secure prisons in the country.
For full report click here
____________________________________________________
US State Dept Terrorism Report 2010
Overview: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a vast
country bordered by nine neighbors; the government did not have
complete control over significant swathes of its territories,
especially in the east where various armed groups operate. The
DRC is home to a large Lebanese expatriate community (several
thousand), some of whom ran businesses linked to Hizballah
fundraising.
Legislation and Law Enforcement: The Democratic Republic of
Congo has no comprehensive counterterrorism legislation and
has little capacity to enforce law and order in its vast territory.
Countering Terrorist Finance: The Democratic Republic of Congo
has legislation criminalizing money laundering and terrorist
financing, as well as a Financial Intelligence Unit. Many banks
installed new computerized communications and accounting
networks, which made it easier to trace formal financial
transactions. Limited resources and a weak judicial system
hampered the government's ability to enforce anti-money
laundering (AML) regulations, however, and local institutions and
personnel lacked the training and capacity to enforce the law and
its attendant regulations fully. To date, the DRC has not
completed any money laundering prosecutions or convictions.
Regional and International Cooperation: In 2010, the DRC ratified
the International Convention for Suppression of Acts of Nuclear
Terrorism in 2010. At year’s end, the AU was working on
establishing a joint brigade and operations center that would
include the Central African Republic, Uganda, Sudan, and the
DRC.
____________________________________________________
Links:
Worldwide AML Legislation (International Bar Association)
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| KnowYourCountry |
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AML News / Updates
January 17, 2012 - UN experts outline sources of funding for armed
rebels
Read More
January 10, 2012 - (EU) No 7/2012 implemented on of 5 January 2012
amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1183/2005 imposing certain
specific restrictive measures directed against persons acting in violation
of the arms embargo with regard to the Democratic Republic of the
Congo
Read Regulation
EU Commission implemented Regulation (EU) No 1097/2011 of 25
October 2011 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1183/2005
imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against persons
acting in violation of the arms embargo with regard to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
Read Regulation
January 17, 2012 - UN experts outline sources of funding for armed
rebels
Read More
January 10, 2012 - (EU) No 7/2012 implemented on of 5 January 2012
amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1183/2005 imposing certain
specific restrictive measures directed against persons acting in violation
of the arms embargo with regard to the Democratic Republic of the
Congo
Read Regulation
EU Commission implemented Regulation (EU) No 1097/2011 of 25
October 2011 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1183/2005
imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against persons
acting in violation of the arms embargo with regard to the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
Read Regulation
| Last Updated: 16 April 2012 |