Countering Transnational Organised Crime

Why it matters

Corruption is not a side effect of the conflict: it finances it and prolongs it. In war, whoever holds the road levies the tax: the AFC/M23 raised up to US$17 million a month, according to the Governor of South Kivu (April 2026), and fraud at the borders still costs the province about US$33 million a month, according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade (June 2026). On the RN5 between Kamanyola and Baraka, travellers still pass nearly ten barriers and pay at least 5,000 Congolese francs at each. Illegal taxes, revenue collected in cash and diverted aid weaken the State at the very moment it has to prove it can serve people better than the armed groups. Organised crime cannot work without officials who look away: fighting it starts with integrity.

How CERC works

• Research and evidence. We study how corruption enables organised crime – illegal taxation, smuggling, fraud at the borders, trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants – and publish what we find to inform policies and programmes.
• A civil society voice in the review of the Convention. In 2022, CERC took part in UNODC trainings on the review mechanism of the UNTOC, including its self-assessment questionnaire. We bring the evidence of civil society to the review of the DRC, as we did for the UN Convention against Corruption with our civil society parallel report.
• Citizens who report. With GovCheck, citizens, traders and travellers can report illegal checkpoints, undue taxes and corruption, and follow how the authorities respond. Our social alert system, tested in 2024 with three public prosecutor’s offices in Kinshasa, gives them trained focal points to turn to.
• Following the money. We call for the recommendations of our UNCAC report to be applied: stronger and independent anti-corruption and anti-money laundering bodies, more mutual legal assistance to prosecute money laundering, and beneficial ownership information shared with foreign authorities.
• Advocacy for laws that work. We advocate with the Ministry of Justice for laws that criminalise all forms of trafficking, with penalties that match the gravity of the crime – see Countering Human Trafficking.
• Protecting those who speak up. Reports can be anonymous, and we publish no data that could put anyone at risk.

Our plan for 2027–2030

Under our Strategy 2027–2030, for a clean reconstruction of eastern Congo, we will:

• Get illegal checkpoints removed. Let traders and travellers report illegal checkpoints and undue taxes with GovCheck, pass the reports on to the authorities, and follow until the barriers are removed.
• Bring revenue into the treasury. Advocate with the province and the revenue agencies for taxes declared and paid electronically, with mobile money and electronic receipts, and an end to cash payments to collectors.
• Close the borders to fraud. Monitor the rollout of the digital border procedures planned in South Kivu and of the single window for foreign trade, and report the fraud that persists.
• Make revenue public. Call for provincial revenue to be published every month, and for part of it to be earmarked for rebuilding schools and health centres.
• Contribute to the review of the DRC under the UNTOC. Prepare a civil society contribution on how the DRC applies the Convention and its Protocols, with recommendations to the Government.
• Understand and stop trafficking in the east. Research how corruption enables trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants where the State returns, and train frontline officials to identify victims and refer them to care.

Step by step, where the State returns

2027 – Uvira, pilot city: first reports of illegal checkpoints and undue taxes, and a measure of the starting point with the province and communities. 2028–2029 – South Kivu: Fizi and the other territories where the administration returns. 2030 – North Kivu: Beni, the next pilot city announced by the Government, then the other areas that reopen.

What we will measure

• Illegal checkpoints reported and removed.
• Share of provincial taxes paid electronically, and provincial revenue published each month.
• Recommendations of our civil society contribution taken up by the Government in the review of the Convention.

Our numerical targets will be set in 2027 with our partners, after measuring the starting point in Uvira.