On 11 October, Gedeon Kyungu Mutanga surrendered with over 100 Mai-Mai combatants to the Haut-Katanga Province authorities. He had escaped from prison in 2011 after being sentenced to death for crimes against humanity, insurgency and terrorism. PRISON CONDITIONS Overcrowding, dilapidated infrastructure and under-funding contributed to dire prison conditions. Most of the prison population comprised detainees awaiting trial. Malnutrition, infectious diseases and an absence of appropriate health care led to the deaths of at least 100 prisoners. An estimated 1,000 prisoners escaped. RIGHT TO AN ADEQUATE STANDARD OF LIVING Extreme poverty remained widespread. According to the World Food Programme, an estimated 63.6% of the population were living below the national poverty line and lacking access to basic needs such as adequate food, safe drinking water, sanitation, adequate health services and education. According to the estimates, over 7 million people were food insecure and nearly half of all children under the age of five were suffering from chronic malnutrition. An economic crisis led to a sharp fall in the value of the Congolese franc against the US dollar, hitting hard the purchasing power of the population. RIGHT TO EDUCATION Although the Constitution guarantees free primary education, the school system continued to function because of the institutionalized practice of school fees covering teachers’ wages and school expenses. Youth activists who protested peacefully in Bukavu, South Kivu, against the school fees at the beginning of the school year in September were arrested and held for short periods. Armed conflict had a severe impact on education. Dozens of schools were used as IDP camps or as military bases for the army Amnesty International Report 2016/17 or armed groups. Thousands of children were unable to attend school because of the destruction of schools or the displacement of teachers and pupils. 1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: Dismantling dissent − repression of expression amidst electoral delays (AFR 62/4761/2016) DENMARK Kingdom of Denmark Head of state: Queen Margrethe II Head of government: Lars Løkke Rasmussen The government introduced serious restrictions to asylum and migration laws and suspended an agreement with UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, to accept refugees for resettlement. Procedural rules created delays for transgender people seeking legal gender recognition. A claim by Iraqis for torture against the Ministry of Defence was ruled admissible. REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS In January, Parliament amended the Aliens Act, restricting the right to family reunification. Individuals granted subsidiary protection status had to wait for three years before being eligible to apply for family reunification. In October, four Syrians who had been granted protection started legal action against the government, on the grounds that the amendments violated their right to family life. In August, the UN Human Rights Committee criticized the amendments and raised concern about a further amendment to the Act which introduced the possibility of confiscating asylum-seekers’ assets as a contribution towards the costs of their reception. The same bill also included a provision which gave the executive power to suspend judicial oversight over the detention of migrants and asylum-seekers when the government considered there was a large influx of people to the country. 141