Academic literature on the topic 'Miners – Abuse of – Congo (Democratic Republic)'

Background. While studies have focused on HIV prevalence and incidence among fishing communities, there has been inadequate attention paid to the construction and perception of HIV risk among fisher folk. There has been limited research with respect to communities along Lake Albert on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Methods. We conducted a qualitative study on three landing sites of Butiaba, Bugoigo, and Wanseko on the shores of Lake Albert along the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Data were collected using 12 Focus Group Discussions and 15 key informant interviews. Analysis was done manually using content and thematic approaches. Results. Lakeshore livelihoods split families between men, women, and children with varying degrees of exposure to HIV infection risk. Sustaining a thriving fish trade was dependent on taking high risks. For instance, profits were high when the lake was stormy. Landing sites were characterized by widespread prostitution, alcohol consumption, drug abuse, and child labour. Such behaviors negatively affected minors and in many ways predisposed them to HIV infection. The lake shore-border heterogeneity resulted in a population with varying HIV knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and competencies to risk perception and adaptation amidst negative masculinities and negative resilience. Conclusion. The susceptibility of lakeshore communities to HIV is attributable to a complex combination of geo-socio, the available (health) services, economic, and cultural factors which converged around the fishing livelihood. This study reveals that HIV risk assessment is an interplay of plural rationalities within the circumstances and constraints that impinge on the daily lives by different actors. A lack of cohesion in a multiethnic setting with large numbers of outsiders and a large transient population made the available HIV interventions less effective.

Abstract Introduction In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, artisanal and small-scale mining employ an estimated 200,000 people, and over a million are indirectly involved through trade and transport. We assessed metal exposure in artisanal miners involved in mining three types of commodities (copper-cobalt, tin, diamonds). Materials and Methods In cross-sectional studies (March 2021 - August 2022), we measured trace metals by Inductive Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) in blood (µg/L) and urine (µg/g creatinine) in convenience samples of miners (mostly males) extracting copper-cobalt (n=147, four mines, Kolwezi), tin (n=99, three mines around Manono), and diamonds (n=80, Mbuji-Mayi). Results Diamond miners had generally low concentrations (GM with IQR) for most trace metals, except for Pb in blood [74.2 (60.6-90.4)] and urine. Compared to diamond miners, copper-cobalt miners had higher blood concentrations for several elements, especially Co [5.55 (2.87-10.74)], but also Ge, As and Hg; they also had higher urinary concentrations for Co [28.3 (13.5-60.5), Mn, As, Sn, and U [0.031 (0.018-1.265)]. In general, tin miners did not exhibit higher metal concentrations than diamond miners, except for Pb in blood [318 (260-727)] and urine, Tl in blood [0.20 (0.14-0.26)] and urine, as well as As, Sn and U in urine; compared to copper-cobalt miners, tin miners had lower Sn in blood and in urine. Conclusions In this cross-sectional study, we found evidence of substantially higher occupational exposure to cobalt and toxic trace metals in copper-cobalt artisanal miners than in diamond and tin miners. The relatively high concentrations of lead and thallium among tin miners need further research.

This legal research focuses on the issue of the extent of UNICEF’s role in protecting the rights of children who are victims of exploitation and abuse, on of which is that occur in conflict areas Republic Democratic of Congo. One of the phenomena that occurs is the recruitment of armed soldiers which occurs among children. This case of child soldiers that occurred in the Republic Democratic of Congo involved various armed Rally Constitutional Democratic (RCD) parties in fighting pro government parties and creating political grudges that could attract children in this country to take part in the conflict as child soldiers. This legal issue in this research discusses the role of UNICEF in providing protection for children recruited as armed soldiers in the Republic Democraic of Congo from the perspective of International Humanitarian Law. Research methods juridical normative with a descriptive approach to invitation regulations based on primary, secondary, and tertiary data sources. This results of this research show that children as victims of exploitation by armed soldiers have not received optimal treatment because UNICEF is experiencing obstacles in resolving children’s rights in the Republic Democratic of Congo.

AbstractThis article examines the smuggling of coltan into and out of artisanal mining areas in northern Katanga where the ITRI Tin Supply Chain Initiative (iTSCi), a policy on conflict minerals, tries to improve transparency in trading tin, tantalum (coltan) and tungsten. The article approaches smuggling from a sociology of economic life perspective, closely examining how and why artisanal miners and mine-based middlemen (négociants) helped smugglers (hiboux) in the trafficking of coltan. The findings indicate that the social networks in which miners and mine-basednégociantsare embedded allow the miners,négociantsand smugglers to maintain close relationships and to breach official regulations, but miners and mine-basednégociantsalso rely on the same networks to cheat in their dealings with the smugglers. This article concludes that, rather than considering coltan mining areas to be ‘enclaves of regulations’, understanding and addressing smuggling at both local and broader contexts call for a comprehensive, more contextualised approach.

ABSTRACTIn a context of increased competition over natural resources, large-scale investors are showing renewed interest in eastern Congo's mineral resources. At the local level this is resulting in fierce disputes over access to land and to mining sites. This article offers an empirical study of access in Luhwindja, where a multinational mining company has recently begun to exploit gold. We first sketch the context, examining the overlapping legal fields and analysing how various actors gain and control access to the gold mines. Next we study how the arrival of Banro Corporation in Luhwindja has altered power relations at the local level. Looking more specifically at the displacement of artisanal miners and the resettlement of local communities, we demonstrate how the company, local elites and the local population have engaged in a complex struggle for access.

Eastern DRC is seriously affected by a protracted warfare involving illicit exploitation of natural resources, corruption, humanitarian crisis and terrorism carried out by armed groups including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and the Movement of 23 March (M23). According to DRC government, M23 is a terrorist group supported by Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF). Invasion and terrorism drive the war and the chaos. For Rwanda, fighting and chaos derive from ethnic conflicts over land, citizenship, local political power, and state failures. To many observers, ongoing violence and fighting are driven by rent seeking by Congolese military commanders, lack of State authority, distorted rule of law at both national and local levels, the abuse of public office for private gain (corruption), failed defence/security and justice sector reforms, undisciplined civilian armed and unarmed combatants, warlords and opportunist warmongers. Overall, state failures combined with globalized war diseconomy as conducted by multinational companies, failed multiparty system regarding democratic governance system drive ongoing chaos and armed violence, beyond government control and defence capabilities, despite peace agreements and the involvement of international and regional peace peacekeeping initiatives. Our analysis suggests that the war strategy being used resembles to what McKew refers to as the Gerasimov Doctrine, a chaos theory of political warfare which is used by Russia in Ukraine war. It is a silent total warfare combining politics and war activities with the objective of weakening, controlling and submitting an enemy by influencing its domestic politics and security. It creates a chaotic environment as a result of Clausewitzian friction. Hence, the search for sustainable peace and political stability needs to address factors which drive and sustain the chaos. Such strategic change requires top leadership involvement at the Head of State level, in his capacity of commander in chief of the armed forces. It is a matter of rebuilding the State, transforming non-state forces into a professional military and inducing few innovations into the defence reform process. Such innovations will include establishing territorial armies in eastern provinces where armed groups and foreign forces take advantage of State weaknesses to exploit resources and abuse local defenceless populations.

This article, based on 16 months of anthropological fieldwork between 2005 and 2012, examines the relationship between work and masculinity among artisanal miners, or creuseurs, in Katanga, the southeastern province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It argues that men's involvement in artisanal mining should be considered not only as an economic survival strategy but also as an attempt to experiment with new ways of being a man in a context of economic crisis and changing gender relations. Furthermore, the article criticizes the tendency to downplay or underestimate the complexity and diversity of processes of masculine identity construction in Africa's artisanal-mining areas. In order to do justice to the intricacy of these processes, the article proposes using concepts and insights from the field of masculinity studies and distinguishing between a levelling and a differentiating trend in artisanal miners’ masculinity practices.

The radioactivity associated with artisanal and small-scale gold mining activities (ASM) carried out along the Ulindi River, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, was evaluated by gamma-ray spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry of soil and sediment samples. The results revealed that activity concentrations of 238U (up to 3127 ± 98 Bq kg−1), 226Ra (up to 2710 ± 89 Bq kg−1) and 232Th (up to 2142 ± 162 Bq kg−1) were 71- to 89-fold higher than the worldwide average concentrations reported by UNSCEAR in soils. Primordial radionuclides are, thus, present in high concentrations in deposits of gold in that region and the average ambient effective radiation dose rate was determined at 8.4 mSv y−1 (range 0.5 to 40 mSv y−1). This area may be classified as a natural high background radiation area (HBRA). The radiation risk for artisanal miners and population members manipulating those geological materials were assessed through radiological parameters. such as the radium equivalent activity index (RaEq), outdoor gamma absorbed dose rate (ODRA), annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE), and excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR). The mean values of these parameters were significantly elevated in comparison to the world average levels and indicated the existence of significant radiation risks for gold miners and members of the local population. A radiation safety policy seems needed to protect workers and the local population in this region.

During the last decade reports of international personnel perpetrating acts of sexual exploitation and abuse against the very population in which they are mandated to protect are a disturbing outcome of some peace operations provided by the United Nations. Sexual exploitation and abuse have been a problem since the first peacekeeping operations in the beginning of 1990’s, however it was not until 2004 when the media reported disturbing acts of sexual abuse of children by French peacekeepers that the whole worlds eyes turned to these claims. This thesis will deal with a sensitive and relevant topic, sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers. The purpose of this research is to understand and explain why United Nations peacekeepers are involved in the horrors which they seek to address.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Sexual violence against women (SVAW) has always been part of armed conflict. However, only recently has international law deemed it a crime against humanity and a genocidal crime, thus finally recognising that it is a strategy and weapon that is used extensively during conflict. SVAW and its consequences, however, also continue in the aftermath of conflict, with both ex-combatants and civilians perpetrating SVAW. The effectiveness of SVAW as a weapon and strategy relies on the existence of gender identities and relations that subjugate women. This gender inequality is instated and perpetuated through hegemonic masculinity and patriarchy, and violence against women is one way in which the imbalance is enforced. Patriarchal beliefs and structures, combined with a form of militarised hypermasculinity, lead to SVAW being used during armed conflict, but also continuing in its aftermath. The consequences for survivors are that they are often stigmatised and discriminated against by their husbands, families and communities, and this contributes to their further marginalisation and exploitation. As the state and international security and peacekeeping bodies fail to adequately address SVAW, civil society organisations (CSOs) tend to fill this void by providing mostly support to women affected. One sector of African civil society, namely African Christian churches, has a good record of effectively filling roles usually associated with the state. Furthermore, African Christian churches have increased tremendously in the last century, function at grassroots-level, and are of the few CSOs that continue functioning during armed conflict. As religious institutions they have authority and impact, for religion has the ability to influence behaviour, facilitate societal change, and provide societal solidarity and cohesion. Thus, for the marginalised in Africa, religion is a powerful resource. This leads one to assume that churches can be effective in addressing SVAW. This supposition was tested by studying how churches address SVAW in three different areas affected by armed conflict, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Liberia, by using a qualitative, multiple-case case study approach. In two sites in each country, one urban and one rural, structured interview questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and nominal groups were done, focusing on the causes and consequences of SVAW and how it is being addressed, specifically by churches. The findings showed that SVAW in areas affected by armed conflict are due to patriarchal structures and beliefs, and the military hypermasculinity that has infused civilian masculinities. Patriarchy is also the indirect cause of the most severe consequences of SVAW. These are physical, psychological, social and economic, but the impact of the stigmatisation and discrimination that survivors experience is what they find most debilitating. Unfortunately, neither government nor civil society is addressing SVAW to any great extent and where they do, their actions are reactive not proactive in terms of prevention. This was no different in terms of the role and influence of the churches. While people believe in the ability of churches to be important actors in addressing SVAW, churches are not doing so, for they, too, are patriarchal institutions. Their ability to address injustice is limited when the cause of the injustice are practices and beliefs that lie at the heart of the religion and the churches, especially if these practices and beliefs are upholding the power of those currently in power. By perpetuating patriarchy, churches are actually contributing to SVAW being used as a weapon and strategy of warfare.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Seksuele geweld teen vroue (SGTV) was nog altyd deel van gewapende konflik. Dis egter eers onlangs wat internasionale wetgewing bepaal het dat dit ‘n misdaad teen die mensdom en van volksmoord is, en sodoende uiteindelik erken dat dit ‘n veelgebruikte konflikstrategie en -wapen is. SGTV en die gevolge daarvan hou egter aan ná konflik, met beide gewese vegters en burgerlikes wat SGTV pleeg. Die doeltreffendheid van SGTV as 'n wapen en strategie berus op geslagsidentiteite en -verhoudings wat vroue onderwerp. Hierdie geslagsongelykheid word ingestel en voortgesit deur hegemoniese manlikheid en patriargie, en geweld teen vroue is een manier waarop die wanbalans afgedwing word. Patriargale oortuigings en strukture, gekombineer met 'n vorm van militêre hipermanlikheid, lei daartoe dat SGTV nie net tydens gewapende konflik plaasvind nie, maar ook daarna. Die oorlewendes word dikwels gestigmatiseer en teen gediskrimineer deur hulle mans, families en gemeenskappe, en dit dra by tot hulle verdere marginalisering en uitbuiting. Aangesien die staat en internasionale veiligheids- en vredesliggame versuim om SGTV voldoende aan te spreek, is burgerlike organisasies (BOs) geneig om hierdie leemte te vul deur die verskaffing van meesal steun aan vroue wat deur SGTV geaffekteer word. Een sektor van Afrika se burgerlike samelewing, naamlik Afrika Christelike kerke, het 'n goeie rekord as dit kom by die vervulling van rolle wat gewoonlik geassosieer word met die staat. Verder het Afrika Christelike kerke geweldig toegeneem in die laaste eeu, funksioneer hulle op voetsoolvlak, en is hulle van die min BOs wat aanhou funksioneer tydens gewapende konflik. As godsdienstige instellings het hulle gesag en invloed, aangesien godsdiens die vermoë het om gedrag te beïnvloed, gemeenskapsverandering te fasiliteer, en solidariteit en samehorigheid aan ‘n gemeenskap te verskaf. Dus, vir gemarginaliseerdes in Afrika, is godsdiens 'n kragtige hulpbron. Dus neem ‘n mens aan dat kerke effektief kan wees in die aanspreek van SGTV. Hierdie veronderstelling is getoets deur te kyk na hoe kerke SGTV aanspreek in drie areas wat geraak word deur gewapende konflik, naamlik die Demokratiese Republiek van die Kongo, Rwanda en Liberië, deur die gebruik van 'n kwalitatiewe, meervoudige-geval gevallestudie benadering. In twee gemeenskappe in elke land, een stedelike en een landelike, is gestruktureerde onderhoudvraelyste, semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude, en nominale groepe gedoen, met ‘n fokus op die oorsake en gevolge van SGTV en hoe dit aangespreek word, spesifiek deur kerke. Die bevindinge het getoon dat SGTV in gebiede geraak deur gewapende konflik, te wyte is aan patriargale strukture en oortuigings, en die militêre hipermanlikheid wat verweef geraak het met burgerlike manlikheid. Patriargie is ook die indirekte oorsaak van die mees ernstige gevolge van SGTV. Hierdie gevolge is fisies, sielkundig, maatskaplik en ekonomies, maar die impak van die stigmatisering en diskriminasie wat oorlewendes ervaar affekteer hulle die ergste. Ongelukkig spreek nie die regering óf burgerlike samelewing werklik SGTV aan nie, en waar hulle dit doen is hulle optrede reaktief en nie proaktief in terme van voorkoming nie. Dit was dieselfde met die rol en invloed van kerke. Terwyl mense glo in die vermoë van kerke om ‘n kernrol te speel in die aanspreek van SGTV, doen kerke dit nie, want hulle is óók patriargale instellings. Hulle vermoë om onreg aan te spreek is beperk wanneer die oorsaak van die onreg praktyke en oortuigings is wat aan die hart lê van die godsdiens en die kerke, veral as hierdie praktyke en oortuigings verseker dat dié in beheer hulle mag behou. Deur hulle voortsetting van patriargie, dra kerke by daartoe dat SGTV gebruik word as 'n wapen en strategie van oorlogvoering.

Conflict has been rife in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for many decades, in a war over minerals. The economic incentive for this conflict lies in the multimillion dollar trade in conflict minerals, and the results are human rights abuses, violent conflict and corruption. International industries from resource-rich countries play a role in business and human rights violations in other countries where governance is weak, such as the DRC. The focus of this study is minerals extracted from the eastern DRC – the ores that produce tin, tantalum, tungsten (the 3Ts) and gold. These minerals are essential to the electronics industry, where various companies, primarily publicly listed companies, use these minerals in their production processes. This study examines the way in which companies at the top of the minerals supply chain use their buying power to influence their suppliers, exerting pressure down the supply chain. There have been dramatic changes in this arena recently, including the passing of conflict minerals legislation in the United States of America (USA) and an evolving multilateral architecture for supply chain due diligence emanating from the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This study explores a variety of efforts initiated by a number of companies, governments and non-governmental organisations (both in the DRC and internationally) committed to combating conflict minerals. These efforts are aimed at formulating a regulatory framework on the security exchanges in Africa. Such a system should be conceptualised to regulate the due diligence process relating to minerals to enable end-users to trace supply chains from companies who use these minerals back to the sources of origin, by using independent audit chains of custody in a certification scheme similar to the Kimberley Process for conflict diamonds. This system is intended to be a means to strengthen the global transparency and accountability of electronics companies, together with industry initiatives, the OECD’s guidelines and extractive industry transparency initiatives principles, targeting publicly listed companies. This study, which consisted of a desktop review of books, journals, reports and internet sources, analyses elements of the USA‘s Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act) and South Africa’s King Code Report III on Corporate Governance of 2009 to determine whether these instruments are appropriate to be applied to African exchanges. It examines whether these instruments can be used to create a system requiring companies trading in or using conflict minerals in their production to compile an annual report that is to be made publicly available, disclosing the source and chain of custody of conflict minerals which originate from conflict zones, notably the DRC and other African countries. Due to the globalised markets, companies are gaining greater power than some governments. Companies are regulated by the legislation of the host country in which they are incorporated. The countries in which these companies operate and publicly trade are usually developing countries, which are characterised by impoverished communities and unstable or emerging democracies. The recent passing of the conflict minerals provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act requires that publicly traded companies in electronics industries report annually to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on whether conflict minerals are part of their supply chains, and if so, what the steps have been taken to ensure that the companies do not contribute to the ongoing conflict. The practical/managerial implications of the African system is that the inconsistencies and instability in these emerging markets legislation and their relaxed rule of law create loopholes in the systems of industry which would normally require adherence to human rights principles and industry’s assistance in developing global standards and/or incorporating such standards into legislation. Industry is still largely unaware of whether products are conflict-free and has no way of determining the status of products. Responsible supply chain co-operation is therefore needed by companies to take steps to trace supply chains, and ensure independent auditing and certification. This study looks at how industry and governments can formulate international standards and regulations that require publicly listed companies using the 3Ts and gold in the production of their goods to put human rights at the heart of their enterprises. The findings of the study highlight the urgent need for due diligence, transparency and an accountability agenda for resource sectors. The study argues that more African states need to buy into these initiatives. Greater transparency must be part of broader governance schemes. The study recognises the important role of stock exchanges and the importance of regulating companies which trade and source minerals from the DRC and other countries in Africa. The study recommends a reform of securities exchanges and the implementation of corporate governance codes. The study argues that Africa can incorporate elements of the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC Act, King III and the JSE Listing Requirements into national legislation in the individual states to impose important legal duties on companies to promote fairness, accountability, responsibility and transparency. Passing legislation to regulate the international minerals trade is crucial for the promotion of a legal mineral trade.
Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
Centre for Human Rights
unrestricted

This chapter explores the human rights violations that arise out of the process of sourcing and manufacturing of technology. Human right exploitations begin at the very source where mining for natural resources workers face human rights abuse. Cobalt is a mineral found in lithium-ion batteries that power the majority of electric cars and cell phones. Some of the largest tech companies in the world are using cobalt that is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by children and adults in horrific conditions. These artisanal mines employ Congolese cobalt miners who operate in hazardous, congested underground tunnels with hazardous materials without even the most basic safety measures or protective gear. Increasing electrical consumption from data centres, carbon-intensive mining and manufacturing processes, and product obsolescence generates tonnes of e-waste and result in biodiversity loss. Furthermore, big tech companies set up factories in Southeast Asian countries. These factories are oftentimes sweatshops, where workers are treated poorly with one day off every two weeks, and employees have to put in 11 to 12 hours a day. They have two 10-minute breaks each day to drink water or use the lavatory in addition to a half-hour for lunch. However, if the employee doesn't hit a daily quota, they have to work overtime for free. Overall, it's said that wages are so low that employees must put in extra time to make even close to a livable income. The supply chain of tech companies should be subject to strict transparency requirements and other human rights procedures. They have the power to impose sanctions on enterprises that don't comply with the rules and to establish laws that are actually effective in levelling the playing field between employers and employees.

The chapter takes a look at the context in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and how armed violence impacts on the security of the population. It analyzes the dynamics underlying violence and its use as a mode of governance by state and non-state actors. Through events and institutions analysis, it explains the disintegration of state legitime violence in favor of diversified predators who use armed violence as rhetoric and technic both to gain power and mode of conflict resolution in a context of lack or weakened justice system to mitigate the impact of gun violences on populations. The solution to put an end to armed violence should not only be provided by the international commitment as by the United Nations or by multilateral organizations such as the European Union or African Union security policies, but also by promoting criminal justice against predators who abuse their positions in political competition while manipulating ethnic sensitivities and favoring the strategy of violence in order to gain access to natural resources and stay in power.

The study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The study relied on qualitative methodology while data was gathered through key informant interviews and documentary search. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the humanitarian situation in the DRC. This has seen rising unemployment, political instability, and domestic violence being witnessed. The pandemic has fuelled geopolitical friction. Peacekeeping missions are necessitated by the need to facilitate and monitor the political process, protect civilians, assist in the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants and support the organization of elections, protect, and promote human security. If peacekeeping operations are disrupted, there will be chaos, abuse, and forced displacement of people among the region and internationally. It can be concluded that the pandemic has negatively affected peacekeeping operations in the DRC.