- Start: 1 January 2026
- Duration: 2 years
- Partners: Fondation Panzi et Promotion des Droits de l’Homme et de la Justice (PRODHOJ)
- Funding: European Union
The various failures within the Congolese criminal justice chain, combined with the systematic use of pretrial detention, have led to extreme prison overcrowding. This phenomenon has the direct consequence that detainees are held in inhuman and degrading conditions, resulting in numerous and very serious human rights violations.
The events of September 2024 at Makala Central Prison are a striking example, having reached an extreme level of violence.
More than a year after these events, and despite all the calls to action and initiatives launched, ASF observes that most of the women who survived the Makala events are still not receiving adequate care.
It is therefore urgent to provide an appropriate and priority medical, psychological, and judicial response to women who suffered sexual violence during these events and who are still detained at Makala Central Prison, on the one hand, and to reach those who have benefited from release measures, on the other hand.
At the same time, more structural measures must be put in place to sustainably curb prison overcrowding and improve detainees’ living conditions, in line with the recommendations of ASF’s Policy Brief of October 2024, updated in October 2025.
Within the framework of this project, ASF has the opportunity to support these survivors and thus contribute to their reintegration into their respective communities.
This project is built on the experience and expertise acquired by ASF over more than two decades in the DRC in general, and on the implementation of similar projects over the past two years (2024–2025) in particular. Through this project, ASF and its partners intend to provide relevant and sustainable responses through the development of the two priority areas outlined below:
1. Improving survivors’ access to holistic and adapted services
ASF and its partner PRODHOJ aim to support women and girls in detention, in particular survivors of sexual violence committed at Makala Central Prison, so that they receive free, high-quality legal and judicial assistance aimed at securing their release.
To achieve this, the project plans to carry out the following key activities:
- Targeted monitoring of women and girls who are survivors of sexual violence and are detained at Makala Central Prison (in-prison monitoring);
- Targeted monitoring of women and girls who are survivors of sexual violence and have already been released from Makala Central Prison (post-release monitoring);
- Judicial assistance for women and girls who are survivors of sexual violence and remain detained at Makala Central Prison; and
- Advocacy actions targeting political, judicial, and prison authorities to resolve the judicial and detention situation and to secure the release of women and girls who are survivors of sexual violence at Makala Central Prison.
In addition, ASF and the Panzi Foundation aim to support women and girls who survived sexual violence during their detention at Makala Central Prison so that they benefit from high-quality medical, psychological, and psychosocial care enabling their safe return to the community.
To this end, the actions implemented will focus on:
- The deployment of a mobile clinic in the women’s ward of Makala Central Prison to assess medical and psychological needs and provide emergency care for the most serious cases in detention;
- Medical and psychological care for women and girl survivors post-detention at the Panzi Foundation’s One Stop Clinic. Through this service, several options are available to women and girls: (i) transit reception and secure safe spaces, (ii) emergency medical and psychological care, (iii) outpatient medical and psychological care, and (iv) surgical care;
- The socio-economic reintegration of survivors; and
- Support for family reintegration and repatriation, or relocation where necessary, of survivors.
2. Strengthening the implementation of justice and reparation mechanisms for victims of sexual violence
Beyond the above, ASF intends to support actions carried out by civil society, lawyers’ collectives, and experts aimed at strengthening respect for the rule of law within the criminal justice system and at realizing the rights of survivors of sexual violence.
In this regard, the following actions are envisaged:
- The initiation and follow-up of strategic litigation, as well as judicial support for survivors before national courts and institutions, in order to establish the various responsibilities of perpetrators and the civil and administrative liability of the State;
- Support to survivors in defining their claims for reparations for the violence suffered;
- Advocacy and legal support aimed at the effective implementation of reparation measures and access to justice for survivors; and
- The establishment of a fund to ensure urgent assistance.
Through their joint action within this project, ASF and its partners thus seek to contribute to the reduction of gender-based violence (GBV) in the DRC, and more particularly in Kinshasa, to ensure holistic care for survivors, and to guarantee the implementation of justice and reparation mechanisms for victims.
This project is implemented in Kinshasa with the support of the European Union, specifically targeting the women’s ward of Makala Central Prison. It has a duration of two years, starting on 1 January 2026.