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Amnesty International report on battery minerals and human rights violated in the DRC by foreign multinationals and authorities
September 12, 2023
Kiki Kienge
By Kiki Kienge
A message was sent to the President of the Republic, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi by Amnesty International asking him to put an end to forced evictions and other human rights abuses committed in copper and cobalt mines.
This is a report presented this September 12 which is based on the extractions of cobalt and copper in Grand Katanga and precisely in the province of Lualaba, minerals which are used in the manufacture of electric batteries, particularly for vehicles and other products. for renewable energies, a global challenge for the survival of our planet.
A report co-written by Candy Ofime and Jean-Mobert Menga , all Amnesty International researchers and collaborators, who said:
“We found multiple violations of legal protections provided by both international human rights standards and domestic law, as well as blatant disregard for the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. »
THE REPORT :
Several facts going against human rights were noted by the two OMG international researchers in Greater Katanga, especially:
Demolished housing ;
In the Cité Gécamines district of Kolwezi in the Lualaba province where more than 39,000 people live, Compagnie Minière de Musonoie Global SAS (COMMUS) , a joint venture between the Chinese group Zijin Mining Group Ltd and Générale des Carrières et des Mines SA ( Gécamines ), state mining company of the DRC.
House that was demolished to expand a mineral mine in Kolwezi
Hundreds of residents have received orders from the authorities of the Lualaba province to leave their homes and many have already left since the resumption of mining activities without being consulted and the plans to expand the ZIJIN mine. have not been made public, many houses have already been destroyed to make way for mining activities.
Some compensation has been granted by COMMUS to a few people, but this does not allow those compensated to buy housing equivalent to that which they have just lost.
“We did not ask to be relocated, it was the company and the government who came to tell us that there are minerals here,” Edmond Musans , 62 years old.
“I had a big house, with electricity, water... Now, I have a small house, that's all I was able to buy with the compensation received [...], we have to consume the water from the boreholes […] We have almost no electricity. » declared a former resident evicted from the Gécamines city.
Cécile Isaka , another former resident, said explosions for the mine expansion created such large cracks in her house that she feared it would collapse. With no other solution, she accepted the compensation offer and demolished her damaged house in 2022 so that she could reuse the bricks to rebuild another one elsewhere.
Houses burned and residents injured ;
The Mutoshi site, operated by the Chemical of Africa SA (Chemaf) group, a subsidiary of Chemaf Resources Ltd, headquartered in Dubai, soldiers are said to have burned an entire informal settlement in Kolwezi, named Mukumbi.
“After Chemaf obtained the lease for the concession in 2015, three people claiming to be representatives of the company visited me with two police officers to inform me that it was time for the residents of Mukumbi to clear the site which is our village, these Chemaf representatives came to see me four times. » Ernest Miji , chief of Mukumbi, a village which was made up of around 400 structures, including a school, a health facility and a church, which were destroyed on November 7, 2016 for the construction of the Chemaf mine.
“The Chemaf representative told us that now we should leave the village, we asked him where would we go if this is our village where we raise our children, we cultivate and educate our children. We had nothing to survive, we spent nights and nights in the bush. Soldiers from the Republican Guard, an elite military unit led by the Presidency of the Republic, arrived one morning and began burning homes and beating villagers who tried to stop them. We couldn't recover anything, we had nothing to survive, we spent nights and nights in the bush. » Kanini Maska, another former resident aged 57.
A little girl, who was two years old at the time and who we have chosen not to name, was badly burned and left with irreversible scars. Her uncle said the mattress she was lying on caught fire.
Little girl burned and injured during the destruction of the village of Mukumbi
After several protests, Chemaf agreed in 2019 to pay US$1.5 million through local authorities, but some people only received US$300. Chemaf denies any fault, responsibility or involvement in the destruction of Mukumbi and claims not to have ordered the military to destroy it.
As during the genocide in Germany, red crosses were marked on the fences of houses whose inhabitants were to be evicted and their houses demolished.
Destruction of crops and sexual assaults, stop forced evictions ;
The Kazakh group, Eurasian Resources group SARL (ERG), with its Metalkol Roan Tailings Reclamation (Metalkol RTR) project, was not spared from the report of this investigation into cobalt and copper from Grand Katanga.
Near Kolwezi, a subsidiary of Eurasian Resources Group SARL (ERG), headquartered in Luxembourg and whose majority shareholder is the State of Kazakhstan, manages the Metalkol Roan Tailings Reclamation (Metalkol RTR) project.
In February 2020, twenty-one farmers whose crops were located around the concession near the village of Tshamundenda, without being consulted by the authorities and without any notice, soldiers of the Republican Guard with dogs, occupied their fields by force and on the other side bulldozers were razing their crops.
Kabibi , the alias of a farmer from Tshamunenda, told investigators:
“To date, I have no job or other sources of income. I go from house to house to find food for my children. As I tried to harvest my crops before they were destroyed, three soldiers grabbed me before raping me, while others watched the scene. I remained pregnant after this rape, I gave birth later without complications, fortunately despite the lack of medical care. I am a widow, I cannot afford to enroll my children in school…”
The ERG group declared that it did not control nor had it requested the authorities to deploy soldiers. The company said the Congolese government believes the farmers' collective had been compensated by a former mine operator, something the farmers deny.
Stop forced evictions ;
“The international mining companies involved have ample means to make the changes needed to protect human rights, put in place procedures that improve the lives of people in the region, and provide reparations for the harm caused. » Donat Kambola, coordinator of the IBGDH, said.
“The Democratic Republic of Congo can play a central role in the energy transition to abandon fossil fuels, but human rights must not be trampled in the race to extract minerals to decarbonize the global economy. » Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said.
Amnesty International's report urges Congolese authorities to immediately end forced evictions, create an impartial commission of inquiry, and strengthen and enforce national laws relating to mining activities and evictions in line with international human rights standards. .
Authorities actively participated in or facilitated forced evictions and failed in their obligation to protect human rights, including those under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Guiding Principles on Business and human rights. The military should never be involved in evictions.
Companies' claims that they adhere to strict ethical standards ring hollow. They have a responsibility to investigate identified human rights abuses, provide meaningful reparations and take necessary steps to prevent future harm. All companies must ensure that their operations do not harm populations on the front lines of mining activity.
Forced evictions at industrial cobalt and copper mines in the DRC
Expansion of mines has led to grievous human rights abuses.
www.amnesty.org
