05 07 13 Monitoring compliance of minerals possession chain in the Great Lakes region and inspection of mining sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda
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Final
Communiqué
On
June 19th and 20th, 2013, under the moderation of the
Coordinator of CENADEP-Kivu, at Hotel Bulungu, Bukavu, Province of South Kivu in
the Democratic Republic of Congo, the technical training seminar regional Civil
Society and stakeholders has been held around the following theme:
“Monitoring compliance of minerals custody chain in the Great Lakes region
and inspection of mining sites in the Democratic
Republic
of Congo and Rwanda”
The
meeting has been organized by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) and the Regional
Coalition of civil society organizations against illegal exploitation of natural
resources in the Great Lakes Region, COSOC-GL in acronym, with support from the
American Foundation “Humanity United”.
Works
were attended by a 55 delegates audience composed of COSOC-GL and non COSOC-GL
civil society members from Rwanda, Burundi, the DRC and Uganda as well as
government experts from Kinshasa and South Kivu, economic operators of the
mining sector in the province of South Kivu, technical and financial partners’
representatives in the mining sector in the region, namely BGR, JMAC / MONUSCO,
IOM, Heartland International Alliance, PACT / ITRI, the Division for civil
affairs of MONUSCO/South Kivu.
Generally,
the seminar aimed at improving the governance of natural resources sector and
countering conflicts financing in the Great Lakes region through an investment
in the development of technical knowledge and existing competences of the civil
society on monitoring of the chain of custody and production of monitoring and
mining sites inspection reports.
This
workshop is part of the project initiated by Partnership Africa Canada and
addressing a number of gaps and needs, several of which had been identified by
the coalition of civil society against illegal exploitation of natural resources
in the Great Lakes Region (COSOC-GL).
During
the two days of the meeting, national and international experts from
organizations supporting the regional civil society and the States of the Great
Lakes region in the long process of implementing the regional certification
mechanism for mineral substances have presented the following
statements:
1.
The technical aspects of the Regional Certification Mechanism for mineral
substances and their relationship with the mine sites inspection templates in
Rwanda and the DR Congo, by Mr. Shawn BLORE, PAC Expert;
2.
Presentation of Rwanda’s mine sites inspection template: strategies for
implementation, by Prof. BALI B. Director of BGR;
3.
Presentation of the DRC’s mine sites inspection template, technical
requirements, conditions for inspections effectiveness, results and challenges,
by M. Mandza, Legal Advisor at the Mining Registry of the DR Congo in
Kinshasa;
Situation
of the process of implementation of the Regional Certification Mechanism for
mineral substances in the DR Congo, by Mrs. Genevieve KIZEKELE, Coordinator
COCERTI Kinshasa;
4.
The role of stakeholders for effective regional mineral certification in Rwanda
and in the DR Congo: States, private sector, civil society, local communities,
merchants, artisanal miners and technical and financial partners; discussed in
working groups;
5.
Whistleblowing mechanism (WBM), inspection, validation, qualification and
monitoring of mine sites by local communities and the civil society: role,
sources and expected results; by Mr. Pierre KAMARO, MAR-ICGLR Focal Point
Expert;
6.
Production and publication of reports on inspection, qualification / validation,
monitoring of mine sites on the basis of technical criteria: form, background,
legitimacy, credibility, adaptation to different target audiences, their use, by
Prof. BALI, Director of BGR and Mr. Shawn BLORE, PAC
Expert;
7.
Strategies to involve local communities in the process of monitoring of mine
sites; by Tibère KAJEMBA, in charge of the Project Governance and Peace,
OGP.
In
an interactive and participatory approach, presentations and discussions
provided relevant information regarding the current situation of regional
certification for mineral substances in the DR Congo and Rwanda. They also
revealed major challenges regarding the roles and capacities of civil society to
contribute efficiently to the effectiveness of regional mineral certification,
in order to give credibility to the process in accordance with international
standards and requirements.
Among
the collected information, it is important to underline that Rwanda has made
remarkable progress in the certification process. Rwanda already performed
independent audits and inspectors are already active. Mine sites are already
certified and the certificate produced was chosen as the template at the
regional level. However, inspectors are mainly governmental and mine sites
inspections in this country do not include the participation of civil society
members.
In
the DR Congo, the certificate launch is planned for mid-July 2013 and there are
already 100,000 certificates available at the certification agency (CEEC).
Efforts to achieve effective certification are deployed at the level of the
government and the process achieves a meaningful participation of civil
society.
Discussions
during an interactive session between participants on three relevant issues have
highlighted the following recommendations;
1)
Regarding the strategies to coordinate the various tools / committees involved
in the monitoring of mine sites:
Ø Accelerating
the establishment of local committees for more participatory monitoring at
regional level including the CSAC and other existing initiatives as
well;
Ø Providing
these local monitoring committees with a legal basis like the Provincial
Committee for monitoring mining activities in South Kivu;
Ø Establishing
a mechanism for sharing information between the provincial, territorial,
national and regional level;
Ø Conducting
advocacy for local monitoring committees in favor of getting operational
capacity.
2)
Regarding strategies to support more active involvement of the regional civil
society in these activities
Ø Choosing
8-10 members of CSOs in DR Congo for professional training on inspection of mine
sites;
This
selection must be made on the basis of objective and transparent criteria taking
into account gender and geographical breakdown in the eastern provinces of the
DRC, namely Province Orientale, Maniema, North Kivu, Katanga and South
Kivu;
Ø Support
the influence of COSOC-GL in the four countries;
Ø Ensure
professionalism of CSOs members in the missions of mine sites
inspections.
3.
Regarding security strategies for the actors involved in the activities of
implementing the whistleblowing mechanism, missions of inspection, qualification
and validation and monitoring of mine sites:
Ø Ensuring
professionalism through capacity building and professional
ethics;
Ø Establishing
an emergency plan in case of threats including evacuation / relocation funds for
the threatened actor ;
Ø Developing
a network of strategic contacts through a phone chain to ensure urgent and
effective action to secure the actors.
Written
in Bukavu, June the 20th, 2013.
For the participants,
Oswald
RUBASHA,
Cyprien BIRHINGINGWA MUGABO,
Reporter
Moderator
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