Congo (Republic)

Detains migrants or asylum seekers?

Yes

Has laws regulating migration-related detention?

Yes

Refugees

41,557

2022

Asylum Applications

18,356

2022

International Migrants

387,606

2020

Population

6,100,000

2023

Overview

Types of facilities used for migration-related detention
Administrative Ad Hoc Criminal Unknown

08 February 2021 – Congo (Republic)

According to UNHCR, as of mid-2020 the Republic of Congo (RoC)–which is facing the double threat of COVID-19 and Ebola–was hosting 43,656 refugees and asylum seekers and 304,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). Refugees and asylum seekers are primarily from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, and Rwanda. On March 15, […]

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NHRC and UNDP Training Seminar in Brazzaville on 28 January 2021, (T. Bosley,
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DETENTION STATISTICS

Total Migration Detainees: Flow + Stock (year)
Not Available
2019

DETAINEE DATA

Total Number of Children Placed in Immigration Detention (Year)
0
2017

DETENTION CAPACITY

ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION

ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA

PRISON DATA

Criminal Prison Population (Year)
1,240
2014
1,400
2011
1,165
2008
1,550
2005
918
1993
Prison Population Rate (per 100,000 of National Population)
27
2014
33
2011
31
2008
44
2005
38
1993

POPULATION DATA

Population (Year)
6,100,000
2023
5,500,000
2020
International Migrants (Year)
387,606
2020
963,833
2019
International Migrants as Percentage of Population (Year)
7.02
2020
Refugees (Year)
41,557
2022
40,765
2021
27,097
2020
25,668
2019
37,494
2018
48,512
2017
46,439
2016
44,955
2015
54,842
2014
Ratio of Refugees Per 1000 Inhabitants (Year)
9.8
2016
Asylum Applications (Year)
18,356
2022
8,975
2019
2,360
2016
Stateless Persons (Year)
0
2022
0
2016

SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA & POLLS

MIGRATION-RELATED DETENTION

Does the Country Detain People for Migration, Asylum, or Citizenship Reasons?
Yes
2022
Yes
2009
Does the Country Have Specific Laws that Provide for Migration-Related Detention?
Yes
2023
Yes
2017

GOVERNANCE SYSTEM

Legal Tradition(s)
Civil law
2017
Customary law
2017

LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Detention-Related Legislation
Loi n° 29-2017 du 7 août 2017 modifiant et complétant certaines dispositions de la loi n° 23-96 du 6 juin 1996 fixant les conditions d’entrée, de séjour et de sortie des étrangers en République du Congo (2017)
2017

GROUNDS FOR MIGRATION-RELATED DETENTION

LENGTH OF MIGRATION-RELATED DETENTION

MIGRATION-RELATED DETENTION INSTITUTIONS

PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS

DETENTION MONITORS

> National human rights monitoring bodies

> National Preventive Mechanisms (Optional Protocol to UN Convetion against Torture)

> Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

> Governmental monitoring bodies

> International detention monitoring

TRANSPARENCY

READMISSION/RETURN/EXTRADITION AGREEMENTS

COVID-19

HEALTH CARE

COVID-19 DATA

INTERNATIONAL TREATIES

International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
ICRMW, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
2017
2017
CRPD, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
2014
2014
OPCRPD, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
2014
2014
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
2003
2003
CRC, Convention on the Rights of the Child
1993
1993
ICERD, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
1988
1988
ICCPR, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
1983
1983
ICESCR, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
1983
1983
CEDAW, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
1982
1982
PCRSR, Protocol to the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
1970
1970
CRSR, Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
1962
1962
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 11/19
Individual Complaints Procedures
Acceptance Year
ICCPR, First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 1983
1983
CRPD, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2014
2014
Ratio of Complaints Procedures Accepted
Observation Date
2/8
2017
Relevant Recommendations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on the Rights of the Child 71. § "71. The Committee calls on the State party to finalize and adopt the Refugee Bill with a view to ensuring a child rights-based approach to asylum and the determination of refugee status. It encourages the State party to subsequently take all necessary measures to guarantee the full implementation of the national law, in line with international human rights and refugee law, and refers the State party to its general comment No. 6 (2005) on the treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin. The Committee urges the State party to protect children, especially girls, against sexual abuse and other related incidents, to investigate cases of abuse fully and to prosecute and sentence the perpetrators of such crimes. It recommends that the State party take all the necessary measures to improve the living conditions of asylum - seeking and refugee children. It also encourages the State party to ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness." 2014
2014
Committee against Torture 18. The Committee recommends that the State party: [...] (b) Continue, in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, its efforts to identify refugees and asylum seekers and to ensure their protection, in accordance with international law, by respecting, in particular, the principle of non-refoulement, including during specific police operations; (c) Ensure that the detention of asylum seekers and refugees is used only as a measure of last resort and, where necessary, for as short a period as possible; (d) Ensure that the legal safeguards are respected, in accordance with article 11 of the Convention; (e) Ensure that investigations are carried out effectively and that refugees and asylum seekers allegedly subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by State or private actors, including victims of rape and domestic violence, have access to remedies, as set out by the Committee in its general comment No. 2 (2007) on the implementation of article 2 by States parties; [...] 2015
2015

NON-TREATY-BASED INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS

Relevant Recommendations from the UN Universal Periodic Review
Observation Date
No 2009
2017
No 2014
2017

REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS

Regional Legal Instruments
Year of Ratification (Treaty) / Transposed (Directive) / Adoption (Regulation)
Observation Date
ACHPR, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 1982
1982
2017
APRW, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) 2011
2011
2017
ACRWC, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 2006
2006
2017

DETENTION COSTS

OUTSOURCING

FOREIGN SOURCES OF FUNDING FOR DETENTION OPERATIONS