Congo (Dem. Rep. of)
Economic Exploitation, the Arms Trade and Human Rights Abuses
Economic exploitation is one of the single largest factors perpetuating the conflict in the DRC. The final report of the UN Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the DRC systematically documents the ways in which individuals and companies have been involved in the exploitation of natural resources, further underscoring the close relationship between economic exploitation, arms trafficking, and human rights abuses in the DRC.
Mining gold in the DRC. |
Five years of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have proved among the most disastrous in the history of modern Africa. Some three million people are believed to have lost their lives and more than 3.8 million have been driven from their homes. DRC's vast mineral wealth has attracted numerous foreign governments and investors interested in profiting from Congolese natural resources. The ambition of all combatant forces to control and exploit the DRC's natural resources has been one of the largest single factors driving the continuing violence and associated human rights abuses.
In its presidential statement dated 2 June 2000 (S/PRST/2000/20), the Security Council requested that the Secretary-General establish a Panel of Experts on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the DRC. The objective was to research and analyze the links between the exploitation of the natural resources and other forms of wealth in the DRC and the continuation of the conflict. In its four reports, the UN Panel of Experts has named senior Ugandan and Rwandese armed forces officers and senior government officials and their families, who are allegedly responsible for illegal exploitation of the DRC's natural resources and other abuses. It has also proposed that measures be taken against the states, individuals and companies most implicated in the exploitation, including travel bans, financial penalties and reductions in aid disbursements. Following the Panel's controversial third report published in October 2002, naming over 50 companies it found to have breached the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, many governments have exerted pressure on the Panel and the Security Council to exonerate their companies of any allegations of shared responsibility of fuelling the war in DRC.
In January 2003, in response to complaints raised by companies and some governments, the Panel's mandate was extended to 31 October 2003. It was instructed to analyze existing and new information, including materials supplied by individuals and corporate actors, in order to update its findings and/or clear companies named for violating the OECD guidelines. In its final report from October 2003 the Panel largely documented the nexus of economic exploitation, arms trafficking, and armed conflict, stating that illegal exploitation remains one of the main sources of funding groups involved in perpetuating conflict. The Panel of Experts also listed companies based in Belgium, China, France, Germany, Israel, Spain, the UK, and the United States, that were allegedly involved in the illegal arms trade in the DRC.
The last report from October 2003 notably established that revenue from diamonds and gold, in addition to money raised at customs border posts, have enabled political and military actors to fund their military activities and purchase of arms. It accused a network of businessmen and politicians of transferring ownership of billions of dollars in assets from the DRC's mining sector to private companies. The illegal revenues from these sales are being used to buy both small arms and sophisticated weapons used in the conflict. This unregulated, opaquely operated plunder of the country's natural resources continues to fuel DRC's tragedy. Human rights abuses committed by combatants have included mass killings of unarmed noncombatants, the use of large numbers of child soldiers, kidnapping and forced recruitment, the routine use of rape as a form of torture and a weapon of war, home demolition, and other acts of cruelty and inhumane treatment of civilians, prisoners of war, and child combatants.
The Panel of Experts recommended that halting the flow of illegal arms to the DRC would serve as an immediate step towards breaking the vicious circle of arms flow, illegal economic exploitation and conflict. It stated that emphasis must be placed on stemming and, if possible, halting the flow of illegal arms to the DRC. The Panel suggested that the Security Council take all necessary steps to establish a monitoring mechanism for the DRC arms embargo, as envisaged in paragraph 23 of its Resolution 1493 on 28 July 2003. Amnesty International echoes this call for such a monitoring body, and in addition for this body to have a mandate to investigate the link between illegal economic exploitation, arms flows and human rights abuses in the DRC.
The trade in arms in the DRC highlights the deficiencies in controls over the unchecked transfers of arms worldwide. Failure to establish rigorous and transparent licensing procedures for manufacturers, brokers and dealers of arms allows weapons to reach governments and armed militias, helping them to commit egregious human rights abuses. As the world's biggest arms supplier, the US has an especially great responsibility to make sure that transfer of military, security, weaponry, personnel and training are not used to commit gross human rights abuses. The US must ensure that adequate legal and practical controls have been put in place to prevent the sale or transfer of arms from the United States that are likely to contribute to human rights abuses in the DRC.
As the peace process and the newly formed transitional government in the DRC move forward, the international community has a responsibility to implement the important findings of the UN Panel of Experts, ensuring that the horrors experienced by the people of the DRC are not permitted to continue.