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Date: November 25, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:09 pm
Time: 8:09 pm
Results for illicit mineral trade
4 results foundAuthor: Global Witness Title: Digging in Corruption: Fraud, Abuse and Exploitation in Katanga's Copper and Cobalt Mines Summary: The copper and cobalt mining industry in Katanga, in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), continues to be plagued by fraud, abuse and political interference. Global Witness’s research confirmed entrenched patterns of illicit exports of minerals across the DRC-Zambia border, with government and security officials either turning a blind eye to false or inaccurate export certificates, or actively colluding with trading companies to circumvent control procedures. Large quantities of minerals are leaving the country undeclared, representing a huge loss for the Congolese economy – but a vast gain for a small number of powerful actors. The big influx of foreign companies pouring into Katanga since 2004 has presented yet more opportunities for the political elite to enrich itself. Historic elections scheduled for 30 July 2006 could provide a unique opportunity for fundamental reform. Global Witness’s report contains recommendations for priority actions by the new government, by companies and by international donors. These measures could have long-lasting effects for the development of Katanga province – and for the country as a whole – if they are embarked upon without delay. Details: Longon: Global Witness, 2006. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 21, 2011 at: http://www.globalwitness.org/library/digging-corruption Year: 2006 Country: Congo, Democratic Republic URL: http://www.globalwitness.org/library/digging-corruption Shelf Number: 122135 Keywords: Corruption (Katanga)Illicit Mineral TradeNatural ResourcesTheft of Minerals |
Author: Global Witness Title: 'The Hill Belongs to Them' - The need for international action on Congo's conflict minerals trade Summary: In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), rebel groups and senior commanders of the national army are fighting over and illegally profiting from the country’s minerals sector. These groups, responsible for mass rape and murder, enrich themselves through international trade. This report, based on recent findings of the UN Group of Experts and Global Witness’s research over the past year, discusses this crisis. Our report looks at the measures that are needed to end the “conflict minerals” trade – and to ensure that eastern Congo’s mines help rather than hinder development. Details: London: Global Witness, 2010. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 4, 2012 at http://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/library/The%20hill%20belongs%20to%20them141210.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Congo, Democratic Republic URL: http://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/library/The%20hill%20belongs%20to%20them141210.pdf Shelf Number: 123966 Keywords: Conflict Minerals (Democratic Republic of Congo)Illicit Mineral Trade |
Author: Leslie, Zorba Title: The Congo Report: Slavery in Conflict Minerals Summary: Slavery in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is nothing new. Central Africa was a site of slave raiding for the Red Sea and Indian Ocean slave trade long before the arrival of Europeans. But the Belgian colonial occupation, and especially the personal fiefdom of King Leopold II, brought a particularly brutal brand of slavery enforced through torture, limb amputation and murder by the mercenary Force Publique. This was slavery on a massive scale, and an estimated ten million people died over a fifteen-year period. The term “crimes against humanity” was first used to describe this slavery and genocide. The driving force behind this assault was the extraction of Congo’s riches, focused then on rubber and ivory. The loss of cultural memory was so great that few Congolese today have any knowledge of the genocide or mass enslavement. Congo’s people achieved independence from colonial rule in 1960, but were soon subjected to the predatory regime of Mobutu Sese Seko. Mobutu robbed the country of its riches while neglecting the government’s most basic functions for more than three decades. The jungle literally grew up over the country’s network of roads; unpaid soldiers turned to living off the people; and the people did whatever they could to survive. A corrupt informal economy flourished, fertile ground for modern forms of slavery. Mobutu was deposed in 1997, ending a short civil war in which the victorious rebels were supported principally by Rwanda. But the resulting instability ushered in a second and catastrophic war that left 5 million dead from the conflict, its aftermath, and related famine and disease. Abuses committed by all sides in the conflict are well documented. Demands for justice for the crimes committed during that era have been strengthened by a recent UN report on the most serious violations, including slavery, committed between 1993 and 2003. While peace came officially in 2002, the conflict between the army, armed groups composed in part of rebels from neighboring countries, and a number of homegrown, rag-tag militias in the eastern countryside never stopped. As of this writing, ill-prepared elections scheduled for November 2011 are generating fears of further instability and even a return to full-scale conflict. Meanwhile, the war against women and girls in particular, fought by both armed groups and civilians through means of sexual violence, has never ended. In a context in which the rule of law has collapsed, members of armed groups fight and—more often—prey upon civilians for several reasons. They secure their survival through looting. They fight for control over land that was once devoted to farming and ranching, sometimes along ethnic fault lines, and they fight for control over the mines. This report documents several types of slavery in Congo’s mines. Some forms of slavery are directly linked to the conflict, including the use of so-called “child soldiers” and the kidnapping of civilians for forced labor and sexual slavery by illegal armed groups and uncontrolled army units. Other forms of slavery are familiar around the world: debt bondage, forced marriage, slavery in the commercial sex trade, and child slavery that grows out of poverty and the lack of community-enforced norms respecting child rights. But while slavery is not new, neither are efforts to stop it. An anti-slavery campaign at the end of the 19th century broke Leopold’s grip on Congo. Today, human rights workers in Congo’s war-afflicted east, supported by activists in North America and Europe, work to end the widespread abuses of rape, slavery, and wanton killing. Nonetheless, the dynamics of slavery and how the slavery of eastern Congo fits into contemporary legal definitions of slavery are not well understood. There is no doubt, however, that this is slavery—the control of people using violence and its threat to extract work or sexual exploitation, a radical diminution of free will, intentional coercion to make the victims believe they cannot walk away, and no pay beyond subsistence, if that. Armed groups are the principal perpetrators, but they are not alone. Civilian middle managers, moneylenders, brothel owners, and even parents in some cases, are also responsible for these modern forms of slavery. This means that ending the conflict is only part of the solution. Nor is it possible for a modern-day abolitionist simply to step into the world of eastern Congo, with all of its history and complexity, and expect to rescue those in slavery one-by-one. Congolese abolitionists and human rights workers, joining with anti-slavery workers around the world, must and do operate at multiple levels. The necessary approaches include: active and courageous international diplomacy, pressure from all quarters on Congolese and neighboring governments including Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi; regulatory, consumer and investor pressure on companies to clean slavery out of their supply chains; and the strengthening of mining communities at the local level. Details: Washington, DC: Free the Slaves, 2011. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 10, 2012 at http://www.freetheslaves.net/Document.Doc?id=243 Year: 2011 Country: Congo, Democratic Republic URL: http://www.freetheslaves.net/Document.Doc?id=243 Shelf Number: 124426 Keywords: (Democratic Republic of Congo)Conflict Minerals (Democratic Republic of Congo)Debt BondageIllicit Mineral TradeSlavery |
Author: Carius, Alexander Title: Minerals and Conflict: A Toolkit for Intervention Summary: This toolkit is part of a series that explores how development assistance can address key risk factors associated with conflict. One area that is receiving increasing attention is the relationship between natural resources and violence. In many recent conflicts, valuable or scarce resources — land, water, timber, or minerals — have played a central role in both causing and sustaining violence. In particular, valuable minerals took center stage after "conflict diamonds" or "blood diamonds" became a prominent feature of Sierra Leone's civil war. Unfortunately, competition over minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has followed a similarly brutal course. This toolkit: 1) examines the relationship between valuable minerals, such as diamonds or coltan, and violence; 2) discusses lessons learned in developing programs to deal with "conflict commodities"; 3) presents a range of program options; 4) provides a survey instrument that identifies key questions related to minerals and conflict; and 5) identifies relevant USAID mechanisms and implementing partners. Monitoring and evaluation tools are being developed.Together, the elements of this toolkit are designed to raise awareness about the linkages among valuable minerals, development assistance, and conflict; and to help integrate a conflict perspective into development programming. The toolkits in this series explore individual risk factors in depth.They do not identify all relevant factors linked to violence. As such, they are designed to serve as companion pieces to conflict assessments. Conflict assessments provide a broad overview of destabilizing patterns and trends in a society.They sift through the many potential causes of conflict that exist and zero in on those that are most likely to lead to violence (or renewed violence) in a particular context. While they provide recommendations about how to make development and humanitarian assistance more responsive to conflict dynamics, they do not provide detailed guidance on how to design specific activities.The toolkits in this series are intended to fill that gap by moving from a diagnosis of the problem to a more detailed discussion of potential interventions.Together, the assessment framework and toolkits are designed to help Missions gain a deeper understanding of the forces driving violence and to develop more strategic and focused interventions. This toolkit was initially authored by a team of researchers, including Alexander Carius (Adelphi Research); Geoffrey Dabelko (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars); Doris Capistrano (CIFOR); Moira Feil (Adelphi Research); and Jason Switzer (International Institute for Sustainable Development). It was subsequently revised with substantial input from officers in USAID Missions, other bilateral and multilateral donor agencies, academic experts, and members of the NGO community. Comments, questions, and requests for additional information should be directed to the Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation. Details: Washington, D.C.: Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), 2005. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 21, 2012 at http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/conflict/publications/docs/CMM_Minerals_and_Conflict_Toolkit_April_2005.pdf Year: 2005 Country: International URL: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/conflict/publications/docs/CMM_Minerals_and_Conflict_Toolkit_April_2005.pdf Shelf Number: 124639 Keywords: Conflict MineralsIllicit Mineral TradeNatural ResourcesViolence |