The visiting delegation, led by Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of CTED Natalia Gherman, with representatives of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Acting on behalf of the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, its Executive Directorate (CTED) conducted its first country assessment visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 26 June to 5 July 2023. The visit concluded the Committee’s hybrid assessment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, following the virtual component in April 2021. The assessment covered all relevant Security Council resolutions, including 1373 (2001), 2178 (2014), 2396 (2017), and 2617 (2021). Africa has seen an increase in terrorism attacks in recent years and is a region of special importance to the Committee and its Executive Directorate.
The visiting delegation was led by Assistant Secretary-General Natalia Gherman, Executive Director of CTED, and included CTED experts as well as representatives of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Task Force against Money-Laundering in Central Africa, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions of the United Nations Department of Peace Operations.
The Executive Director held high-level bilateral meetings with officials from key offices working on counter-terrorism, including the Minister of the Interior, the Minister for Human Rights, the Vice-Minister of Defence, the Vice-President of the National Assembly, the Special Security Adviser to the President, and Members of Parliament. The Executive Director also met with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), and the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Protection and Operations in MONUSCO.
The delegation conducted on-site visits to the Ndolo Military Prison in Kinshasa; the N’Djili International airport in Kinshasa; male, female and juvenile prisons in Beni; and the Beni military court and its courthouse jail. The delegation also met with representatives of civil society organizations as well as religious and traditional leaders in Kinshasa and Beni to discuss measures taken by the Government in the area of counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism (CVE) conducive to terrorism as well as the impact of its counter-terrorism measures on human rights.
Thematic areas covered during the visit included counter-terrorism legislation, criminal justice, corrections and international cooperation in criminal matters; the role of the military in countering terrorism and international humanitarian law aspects; anti-money-laundering/countering the financing of terrorism; law enforcement; border management, including aviation security; prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration of people associated with terrorism; and CVE conducive to terrorism. In accordance with the practice followed for the Committee’s previous visits, the discussions also included gender dimensions, including sexual gender-based violence committed by terrorists, as well as the roles of women in countering terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism.