The ICRC provides support for the process of integrating IHL into national law and of including it in the instruction of the armed forces and the police as well as at Congolese universities. It works to increase knowledge of IHL by the media, schoolchildren and NGOs.

The ICRC helps the Congolese Red Cross to strengthen its emergency response capacity and to control the mosaic crop virus. The two organizations work together to restore contact between relatives separated during the conflicts that disrupted life in the countries in the region; these activities involve exchanging messages and reuniting children with their families.

The ICRC also continues to work on behalf of people deprived of their freedom.

The ICRC has been operating in the Republic of the Congo for over 15 years. Its principal activities are as follows:

• 1993-1999 and 2003: providing material and medical assistance for the civilian victims of conflict and of armed violence, especially displaced persons; engaging in dialogue with bearers of weapons to encourage respect for IHL.

• 2000-2005: providing support for the local economy and for families in difficulty; improving access to health care (by rehabilitating health centres) and to drinking water (construction of tapstands, rehabilitation of water purification plants) in the southern part of the country (in particular, Pool), the region most seriously affected by the past conflicts.

• 2005-2009: the ICRC has been scaling back its activities and handing the task of continuing the programmes on behalf of the local people (rural health centres, mosaic virus control) over, in the first instance, to the State and to the Congolese Red Cross.