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To the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo:
Urgently investigate and bring to justice those responsible for
alleged violations of international humanitarian law in northeastern Congo, including leaders and combatants of groups such as the FNI, UPC and the FAPC.
Halt immediately the promotion of armed group leaders to senior
ranks in the Congolese army. Investigate and bring to justice those promoted
to generals and other senior ranks in January 2004 named in this and previous
Human Rights Watch reports including Jérôme Kakwavu, Forebear Kisembo, Bosco
Taganda, Germain Katanga, and those promoted to other senior ranks such as
Salumu Mulenda and Rafiki Saba Aimable amongst others.
Sign up to and implement the standards of the Extractive Industry
Transparency Initiative.
Ensure adequate resources for the Ministry of Mines and Energy
and customs administrations to enforce the law governing the extractive
industries.
To the FNI, UPC, and FAPC Armed Groups:
Direct all combatants under your command to observe standards of
international humanitarian law, in particular the right to life of civilians
and non-combatants.
To the Ugandan, Rwandan and Congolese governments:
Provide no military, financial, or other assistance to armed
groups that have committed widespread human rights abuses in northeastern Congo.
Use your influence to persuade armed groups in Ituri to halt
human rights abuses.
To the Ugandan government:
Improve import controls at border points to ensure that all gold
entering Uganda has legal import and export documentation as specified under
Congolese law. Develop legislation and regulations to stop Ugandan individuals
or companies from participating in the illegal trade of gold.
To AngloGold Ashanti and Anglo American:
Halt immediately any relationship which benefits, either directly
or indirectly, armed groups in Ituri who abuse human rights, in particular the
FNI. Consider temporarily suspending gold exploration operations in Ituri if
such operations require cooperation with the FNI or similar armed groups.
Urgently review and ensure compliance with the companys own
internal business principles and policies as well as international business
norms in your operations in Congo, such as the Voluntary Principles on Security
and Human Rights, the U.N. Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational
Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights, and
the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
Help to establish and fund a special gold monitoring body
comprising of representatives of international mining corporations, OKIMO,
district authorities, national government authorities, donors, U.N. agencies,
trade unionists and civil society to monitor compliance with human rights and
sustainable development standards and to consider compensation for victims of
human rights abuses to which gold mining activity in northeastern Congo may,
directly or indirectly, have contributed.
Publish full details of all fees, taxes, compensation payments,
community development funding and other payments made to the FNI armed group
and other armed groups in Ituri.
To Metalor Technologies SA:
Cease purchasing gold from suppliers in Uganda who may be buying gold from armed groups in northeastern Congo responsible for gross abuses
of human rights.
Urgently review and strengthen due diligence checks on the supply
chain of gold purchased from Uganda, Congo or other conflict zones to make it
as difficult as possible for armed groups responsible for human rights abuses
to benefit, either directly or indirectly, from the revenue stream created by
resource extraction in northeastern Congo. Publish the results of such
reviews.
Ensure supply chain monitoring is compliant with international
business norms on human rights and sustainable development such as the OECD
Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the U.N. Norms on Business and Human
Rights.
To the Swiss, South African, British and Ugandan
governments:
Press corporations operating from your legal jurisdictions to
take all necessary steps to ensure that their business activities do not carry
detrimental consequences for human rights in Congo. If applicable, investigate
and hold accountable companies that have contravened domestic or international
legislation.
Use the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
implementation procedure to carry out investigations into whether the
guidelines may have been violated by the activities of companies referred to in
this report.
To MONUC:
Establish a specialized unit to monitor links between natural
resources exploitation and conflict in key resource rich districts in Congo, such as Ituri. Ensure such a unit is provided with adequate resources and that it
reports regularly to the Special Representative of the Secretary General and to
the Committee for the Support of the Transition (CIAT) for prompt action as
required.
To donor governments and international
financial institutions:
Exert political, diplomatic, and economic pressure on the
Ugandan, Rwandan and Congolese governments to dissuade them from supporting
local armed groups responsible for massive human rights abuses.
Publicly denounce violations of international human rights and
humanitarian law by all local armed groups and their backers in Ituri and
insist upon accountability for the perpetrators of such crimes.
Carry out prompt investigations of the activities of companies
which may have violated the OECD Guidelines in their business activities in Congo.
Press for the establishment of and provide funding for a special
gold monitoring body for northeastern Congo as described above.
Establish a high level working group including representatives of
the Congolese government, international governments, donors, multilateral
institutions, U.N. agencies and civil society to address and mitigate past
problems linked with natural resource exploitation in the DRC and to prevent
future ones.
Fund programs in the gold mining region of northeastern Congo to rebuild, strengthen and support independent civil society organizations, including trade
unions, that promote human rights and encourage learning from other such
structures in Africa or abroad.
Encourage full implementation by the Congolese government of the
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and call for full disclosure of
all payments made by companies to armed groups in Ituri and to OKIMO and the
government.
Assist the Congolese government in providing financial and
technical resources to the Ministry of Mines and Energy and other relevant
ministries to improve compliance with the Mining Code.
Review Ugandas use of gold proceeds originating from the Congo and promote full transparency about the use of such revenues by the government in
line with draft IMF Guide on Resource Revenue Transparency.
To the International Criminal Court:
Investigate the links between individuals and armed groups
involved in natural resources extraction who may have contributed to war crimes
and crimes against humanity in Ituri.
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