[UAH] A SECOND REPORT ON SMUGGLING GOLD FROM DRC

New investigation from Global Witness reveals high-level military
involvement in eastern Congo's gold trade

简体中文

At a critical time for the region's minerals trade companies must
undertake supply chain checks and put responsible sourcing into practise

Global Witness' investigation last month in eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) revealed high-level military involvement in the region's
minerals trade. A briefing published today outlines findings from research
carried out in DRC's North and South Kivu provinces, Burundi and Rwanda in
March and April 2013.

The key findings are:

• Tonnes of gold produced in eastern Congo benefit rebels and high-ranking
members of the Congolese and Burundian state armies. The gold is laundered
through Burundi's domestic gold sector and exported to Dubai.

• Neither local buyers in the Great Lakes region nor international traders
conduct adequate checks on the gold they purchase to ensure that it has
not funded conflict or human rights abuses in eastern Congo.

• Efforts to establish conflict-free supply chains in the tin and tantalum
trade are progressing. The first international project attempting to
source conflict-free tin from a conflict area in eastern Congo was
launched in October 2012.

• Much of the tin, tantalum and tungsten produced in North and South Kivu
benefits rebels and members of the state army. The minerals are smuggled
out of Congo into Rwanda and Burundi for export. Tin and tantalum smuggled
into Rwanda is laundered through the country's domestic tagging system and
exported as 'clean' Rwandan material.

Eastern Congo's lucrative trade in tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold has
been controlled by abusive armed groups and factions of the national army
for almost fifteen years. These groups use the profits generated from the
minerals trade to fund their fight. The local population in North and
South Kivu have borne the brunt of a prolonged conflict characterised by
murder, pillage, mass rape and displacement.

This is a critical time for eastern Congo's minerals trade. Companies
covered by Section 1502 of the Dodd Frank Act, a US law that seeks to
prevent the region's minerals trade from funding conflict, are in their
first reporting year and must publish details of their efforts to check
their supply chains by May 2014. In March 2013 the European Union launched
a public consultation on conflict minerals that could result in the
introduction of a European due diligence regulation. The International
Conference on the Great Lakes region, a grouping of regional member
states, is preparing to launch its regional mineral certification scheme,
which requires trading companies in the region to meet OECD due diligence
standards as a condition for having their minerals certified. Companies
buying minerals from eastern DRC must respond to these measures and put
responsible sourcing into practice.

The Global Witness investigator who undertook this research is available
for comment.

Contact: Sophia Pickles at spickles@globalwitness.org or on +44 7703
108449 or +44 207 492 5893

Version française à suivre.

Download the Briefing (PDF)
Company Due Diligence Conflict Minerals Democratic Republic of Congo Conflict

Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
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Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"

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