CONGO
CONFIDENTIAL
Report by HM Embassy, Kinshasa.
Right No.
Rating suggested
by Post
(i) Imprisonment without trial is almost certainly wide-spread but we have no idea of its extent. However, political offenders not infrequently emerge, apparently unscathed, after relatively short periods of incarceration.
(ii) We do not have firm evidence of torture,
but in view of the general political
(iii)
climate in the Congo it is almost certainly practised on a considerable scale.
Slavery is not known to exist.
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5
о
(iv)
The media are strictly controlled by the Government/Party and whatever criticism is allowed is deliberately orchestrated. President has recently encouraged self- criticism within the Party; a gesture probably designed more to control discontent than to allow its unbridled expansion.
The
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(v) So far as we know, the judiciary enjoys
no independence.
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(vi)
The trade unions are an integral part of the state apparatus and theoretically have no freedom. In practice they do exert con- siderable influence and can embarrass the regime.
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(vii)
In theory there is no right to emigrate but emigration does probably take place to a limited extent illegally.
CONFIDENTIAL
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