From impunity to decriminalization of suicide in the DRC

Since 2009, when law n°09/001 of January 10 on child protection was promulgated, there are currently few works dealing specifically with the various forms of protection of minors in Congolese law. However, this law regulates almost all the legal aspects of the life of a minor in the Democratic Republic of Congo by introducing innovations in four major areas, namely the private law of the child (personal and family law), the law of social protection of the child, judicial law and, finally, the criminal law of the child.Inciting a minor to commit suicide is an autonomous offence under children’s criminal law and an innovation whose repression in Congolese law is justified by the child’s best interests, in particular his or her right to life. The autonomy of this offence, unlike the suicide of others in France - which is a general offence which the legislator has been punishing since 1987 -, derives from the very specificity of the law and the quality of the victim, a prerequisite for the constitution of this offence in Congolese law.