‘’ Crusade against property’s dispossession of girls and widows in Eastern Congo ‘’

Economic rights abuses of girls and women remain a great concern in Democratic republic of Congo like in many underdeveloped countries; According to many traditional/cultural norms, women

and girls are inferior to men and they should enjoy fewer social privileges than men. Thus, these retrograde norms remain the driving factors of abuses and violences against girls and women, including abuses of their rights to property and inheritance within their communities. These practices are gross denial of fundamental human rights of women and girls that often condemns them to live in

conditions of total deprivation, with repercussions ranging from economic to social and cultural aspects.

The Constitution of DRC of January 20, 2011 in its article 34 enacts that ‘private property is sacred’ and that the state guarantees ‘the right to individual or collective property’. In addition, it decrees that ‘’ no one can be deprived of their property except for reasons of public utility and with

fair and prior compensation granted under the conditions established by law ‘’

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 10, 1948) which the DRC endorsed

stipulates in its article 171 that 'every one’, has the right to property and that no one can be arbitrarily deprived of one's property. The Article 5 states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

The Family Code (law no 16/008 of July 15, 2016) passes in its article 758 that "the children of the deceased, born in marriage and those born outside of marriage but affiliated with him/her during his/her lifetime as well as the adopted children form the first category of

heirs. The surviving spouse, the father and mother, the consanguineous or uterine brothers and sisters form the second category of heirs and constitute three distinct groups.

Paternal or maternal uncles and aunts constitute the third category of heirs. It should be noted that in the event of death, the heirs are represented by their descendants.

In spite of these legal provisions, in practice, girls and women who lose their parents or husbands are likely to be at risk of being evicted from their family homes, having their important assets or livelihoods taken away by family members; It worth noting that women remain the most impoverished segments of the population in DRC and that economic violences against them contribute to aggravate their socio-economic vulnerability.

Prevailing practices of property dispossession of widows and girls are one of the barriers to their access to livehoods and their full enjoyment of their dignity, rights, empowerment and wellbeing within their communities.

The worse occurrence is that, in spite of existing numerous laws and policies into force that enacts equality of civil, social and economic rights for all, trivialization, resignation, unequal gender norms,

ignorance of laws and fundamental rights remain one of the main factors that contribute to exacerbate economic rights violations that prevent girls and women, particularly widows from fairly enjoying their rights and advance their dignity and wellbeing.

Concerned by the prevailing violations of economic rights of girls and women, we, as GRAIFA (Groupe d’Appui aux Initiatives féminines d’autopromotion = Group to support women’s empowerment initiatives) conducted in South Kivu Province, in Eastern DRC an action campaign entitled ‘’ Crusade

against property dispossession of girls and widows ‘’ with financial support from Haella Stichting (Netherlands)  

Our campaign aimed at promoting economic rights of women and girls including rights to individual

property and inheritance for their empowerment, self-sufficiency and well-being.   

Our intervention translated into action through seminars, informative and communication sessions for behavior change on the theme ‘’Ensuring women and girls’ access to individual property and inheritance as universal economic rights ‘’

In addition, awareness and educative flyers entitled ‘’ ‘’ Let us respect economic rights of women and

girls. THE WIDOWED WOMAN AND A SINGLE GIRL HAVE THE RIGHT TO INDIVIDUAL PROPERTY AND INHERITANCE! ‘’ were produced and distributed to traditional and religious chiefs, change makers, girls and women including widows, gender activists and human rights defenders.

According to the Deputy Mayor of Uvira, Mr. Kapenda Kik’y, who officially opened one of our seminars, advancing rights of women and girls is a struggle that everyone should take ownership of. Certainly, there is some progress regarding the situation of women’s rights compared to past decades, but much remains to be done if we have to significantly improve the rights and living conditions of

women and girls ‘’ he concluded.  

Our action campaign has empowered girls and women activists to improve their knowledge and skills on social and legal restoration of women and girls’ victims of abuses of their economic rights as

well as to strengthen their understanding of the legal means to address economic violences against women and girls.

The following recommendations emerged from our campaign for action on women's economic rights:

-  Popularize knowledge on economic rights of women and girls among retrograde traditional and religious chiefs;

-  Raise funds for wider awareness-raising sessions on the rights of women and girls to inheritance and individual property within deprived communities;

-  Pursue initiatives and efforts to educate women and girls on the ways of claiming their rights to individual property and inheritance;

-  Further popularize the Congolese Family Code among women and girls with a view to enabling them better defend their universal economic rights;

-   Encourage advocacy before state authorities and citizen’s education on official registration of children as well as of conjugal unions (marriages)

-   Amplify education and information sessions on economic rights of women and girls within underserved areas.

GRAIFA remains convinced that effective enjoyment by women and girls of their economic rights, including the right of access to income, employment, individual property and inheritance, is one of the fundamental conditions for ensuring their human development and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030!

Victorine SIFA PANDA

Chair, GRAIFA

(mailto:graifardc@gmail.com) 

(mailto:graifardc@gmail.com) 

We remain open to any partnership and/or

support so that to pursue our commitment and our work and contribute to advance

the rights of women and girls, gender justice for an inclusive and non-violent

human society.