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II. Recommendations

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 company’s 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 Uganda’s 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.



    <<previous  |  index  |  next>>June 2005