Republic of Congo Enabling Environment Baseline Snapshot

Between 2024 and 2025, the Republic of Congo continued to face major economic challenges, mainly due to fluctuating oil prices on the international market, and poor governance. The World Bank has indicated that the economy should grow by 3.8% in 2025, driven by the oil and non-oil sectors. However, poverty remains widespread, but the poverty rate is expected to fall gradually as GDP per capita increases.

This difficult socio-economic context has a direct impact on civic space. Citizens' demands for greater accountability, better governance and improved public services have led to restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly. Strikes, protests and advocacy efforts by civil society actors are often met with arbitrary arrest, detention and stigmatisation, particularly for organisations perceived as independent or critical of the government.

At the same time, civil society is still a key player in promoting transparency, human rights and democratic governance. NGOs, social movements and community groups continue to defend justice, monitor public policy and encourage reform, even in a constrained environment. However, unequal treatment persists within the CSO community: CSOs aligned with government priorities enjoy preferential access to consultations, while CSOs independent of government are excluded from decision-making processes, limiting their influence on public policy.

The next presidential elections are scheduled for 2026, a context likely to have an impact on civic space, government engagement with civil society and public debates on governance and human rights.