Research and publications

• Civil liability of unaccompanied migrant minors in Switzerland

  Where harm is caused by an unaccompanied minor asylum seeker, it is necessary to seek its foundation in different laws and to establish the causal link. Then, given his age, we would have to look at who to blame for this harm. When the unaccompanied minor is under the protection of the host State, the State assumes the responsibility. But when the an unaccompanied minor asylum stays outside the state framework, the responsibility for its harmful acts is, as the case may be, assumed by different host structures or persons.

• Ecclesiastical Tax at the Service of Religious Freedom in Congolese Law (DRC) and Comparative Law

  The right to manifest the own religion or belief implies means the right of members of groups to found and maintain religious, charitable or humanitarian institutions. It also means the right to solicit and receive voluntary, financial and other contributions from individuals and national and external institutions. In this sense, we can imagine the introduction of an ecclesiastical tax for the benefit of religious denominations in the DRC to contribute to the social, economic, intellectual, moral and spiritual development of populations and to the education of citizens. In doing so, they clearly pursue a social policy interest. However, such a tax is likely to restrict the economic freedom (art. 35 Cst.) and property rights (art. 14 ACHPR and 34 Cst.) of taxpayers. Unfortunately, these rights are not absolute. They may be restricted to achieve a social policy interest, namely to promote the cultural, ecological and social values of which the tasks of the State are the expression

• The Human Right to water and sanitation in DRC : Challenges and opportunities for its effectiveness,

  Our paper focused on the environmental situation leads us to the conclusion that the DRC has very important water resources. In the DRC, the human right to water and sanitation have an international and national Foundation.  They are two fundamental rights enshrined in Article 48 Cst.DRC and Law No. 15/026 of 31 December 2015 on water. Unfortunately, the people of DRC suffer of the problem of Drinking water supply and sanitation: 83% of the Congolese population do not have access to drinking water while 70% do not have access to sanitation facilities.

• The Judicial Settlement of Electoral Disputes: African Comparative Law Treaty

  The right to vote is a broad fundamental right enshrined in international law and in national constitutions, including those of the DRC and Switzerland. This fundamental right notably guarantees the right of citizens to be consulted and to take part in the direction of public affairs and the management of the country; the right to express themselves, to meet and to associate freely with other citizens; the right to the exact composition of the electoral body; the right to contest in court the result of the vote; the exact establishment of the result of the election; the respect of the conditions of eligibility and incompatibilities; the freedom to choose between many candidates and/or many voting items; compliance with the voting procedure rules defined in advance by the State Party. The right to vote also protects the electorate against attacks that can be made on these rights to all participants (political parties, voters, candidates). The right to vote protects the electorate against attacks on its rights. This requirement of democracy therefore requires States Parties that the state authorities be elected by the citizens in the best conditions and that each citizen has the opportunity to participate as a voter and to be elected. As a fundamental right, to be effective, it must be implemented by the legislator and protected by the judge, other state bodies and civil society. The judge also has a duty to preserve and strengthen national solidarity, particularly when it is threatened in a democratic state. All this is possible if the procedural guarantees are sufficient.

• The Protection of the Gorilla (Gorilla Beringei Graueri) From Itombwe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): A Case for Reconciling Environmental and Property RightsLa protection des gorilles (Gorilla beringei graueri) d’Itombwe en RDC : Nécessité de concilier le droit environnemental et le droit de propriété, in : Le Droit au service de l’Eglise et de l’Etat. Mélanges en l’honneur des Professeurs Abbé Bruno Lutumba Komba et Grégoire Bakandeja Wa Mpungu pour leurs 65 ans d’âge, Lausanne 2022.

  In 2006, the Congolese Minister of the Environment signed Decree No. 038/CAB/MIN/ECN-EF/2006 of 11 October 2006 establishing the “Réserve Naturelle d’Itombwe” (RNI)—Itombwe Natural Reserve—to safeguard a healthy environment conducive to the survival of eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) and other endemic species of the Albertine Rift. To achieve this goal, there is need to reconcile property rights and environmental law. Thus the harmonious fundamental right to ensure the protection of the dignity of the human being while guaranteeing in a harmonious way respect for nature itself would be guaranteed.