Pre-session Democratic Republic of the Congo

In March 2019 Anne-Marie Verwiel en Irma van den Berg attended the pre-session organized by UPR-Info on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In October 2018 Lawyers for Lawyers and Défense de la Défense jointly submitted a UPR-report on the situation of lawyers in DRC.

Irma and Anne-Marie travelled to Geneva on behalf of Lawyers for Lawyers and Défense de la Défense. During this session they called attention to the situation of human rights lawyers in DRC, mainly focussing on the lack of effective guarantees for the functioning of lawyers, the problems concerning the independence of the Bar Associations and threats to the freedom of expression of lawyers. They spoke to the representatives of several of the Member States trying to make the worrisome situation of Congolese lawyers part of their recommendations to DRC during the upcoming UPR in May.