: 1 “Go ahead, try to accuse us…” Human rights violations by Chinese mining companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The case of China Nonferrous Metal Mining Co. In Mabende Lubumbashi, november 2018 1 Cover picture : The Mabende forest destroy by effluents of CNMC Huachin Mabende factory. Report title : « …you can go accuse us where you want… » : violations of human rights by chinese mining companies established in Democratic Republic of Congo case of china non 2ferrous Métal mining Corporation à Mabende. Research Team : Lydie Musas Julie Mwema This research was done with technical support and Espérance Sikyala financing from the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) in the Netherlan André Tumba Christian Bwenda Writing : Christian Bwenda Translated by Nathalie Mulala and Manya Lin Janowitz PREMICONGO is Congolese NGO specializing in environmental protection and the defense of communities impacted by extractive industries. For more information, visit www.premicongo.org 2 3 Table of contents Abreviations and acronyms ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................................................ 7 Foreword ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Executive summary ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................................................................12 General Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 14 a) The General Context of the Study ............................................................................................................................ 14 b) Research methodology ................................................................................................................................................ 14 c) Difficulties encountered ............................................................................................................................................. 16 Chapter One: Research Framework ...................................................................................................................................... 17 a) Presentation of the CCCMC ........................................................................................................................................ 17 b) Presentation of the Guidelines of the CCCMC .................................................................................................... 17 c) What do we mean by “Chinese company”? ......................................................................................................... 19 d) Presentation of CNMC Huachin Mabende ............................................................................................................ 19 e) The village of Mabende ............................................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter Two: Human rights violations by CNMC Huachin Mabende ........................................................................ 24 a) Violations of the Guidelines for Social Responsibility ........................................................................................ 24 c) Violations of the Due Diligence Guidelines .......................................................................................................... 31 d) Who should be held responsible for human rights violations?.................................................................. 33 Remarks on the results of the analysis of water samples from Mabende ...................................................... 37 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 38 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................................................. 39 4 Abreviations and acronyms ACE: Congolese Agency for the Environment CCCMC: China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemical Importers & Exporters CDF: Congolese franc CNMC: China Nonferrous Metal Mining Corporation CNMHK: China Nonferrous Mining Holdings Ltd. COMILU: Luisha Mining Company CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility CTCPM: Technical Mining Coordination and Planning Unit DPEM: Directorate for the Protection of the Mining Environment DRC: Democratic Republic of Congo EIA: Environmental Impact Assessment EITI: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative EMnet: Emerging Markets Network EMP: Environmental Management Plan EWES: Environment Water and Engineering Services FPIC: Free prior and informed consent GECAMINES: La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (State Mining Company of the DRC) ICMM: International Council on Mining and Metals INSS: National Social Security Institute ISO: International Organization for Standardization MKM: Kalumbwe Myunga Mine NGO: Non-Governmental Organization OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development PREMICONGO: Protection of the Ecoregion Miombo in Congo RCI: Responsible Cobalt Initiative SDP: Sustainable Development Plan SOMO: Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations TCC: The Carter Center 5 UNILU: Lubumbashi University US: United States WWF: World Wildlife Fund 6 Acknowledgements PREMICONGO would like to sincerely thank all the people and institutions who, over the course of a year, collected and analyzed data to contribute to this study. In particular, we would like to thank : Professor Arthur Kaniki and everyone who works at Environment Water and Engineering Services (EWES) who interpreted and analyzed water samples from Mabende. Herman Kongolo and all personnel in the CARTES laboratory at the University of Lubumbashi (UNILU) for the maps used in this report. The community in the village of Mabende for their active participation in this research. Our colleague Pauline Overeem at SOMO who read and commented on the first draft of this report. Our colleague Mark Van Dorp, consultant at SOMO, who helped us research the structure of the CNMC multinational corporation and co-hosted a workshop on capacity-building for the community in Mabende. Our colleagues Dhanis Rukan, coordinator of the Human Rights section of the mines program at the Carter Center in Lubumbashi, and Maria Serrano Joseph, professor of Corporate Social Responsibility at the ESADE Business School in Barcelona, for their remarks and suggestions. To all those, no mentioned above, who in one way or another contributed to his study. 7 Foreword In the last two decades, the volume of Chinese investments in the mining sector in the DRC has continued to grow. According to an estimate by the Mines Department of the Haut-Katanga District in early 2018, Chinese companies constitute 90% of the companies in the operation phase in Haut- Katanga and Lualaba provinces, where the main products are copper and cobalt. But these newcomers in the Congolese mining industry have not received good press, not only from the local communities at their operating sites, but also from observers, particularly in the sciences, the press and civil society1. The local communities are disappointed not to receive economic compensation for suffering the negative impacts of mining. Other observers have also confirmed that these companies are not observing legal obligations for environmental management and for the rights of the communities who are impacted. This negative image by the public is corroborated by the Committee for Coordination and Mining Planning (CTCPM) of the National Ministries of Mines. In fact, they state that “…in any case, it is found that most of the mining operators don’t respect their environmental and social commitments.”2 For more than a century, paternalistic models have been used in the field in which mining companies take charge of the social issues of neighboring communities. Yet the Chinese mining companies are almost always perceived as being “predatory,” and expressions of “looting resources”, “rampage of nature” and “violations of human rights” are almost always used when commenting on their activities in the sector of copper and of cobalt in the former province of Katanga. It is this bad reputation among the public, along with a near absence of specific reports on the topic, that motivated the study that we have done on Chinese mining companies in 2014 and 2015. This study demonstrates that the deficit observed in the management of the environment and the respect of the rights of local communities was due to the government’s inability to enforce laws as well as the corruption which undermines the country. Thus, our conclusion has been recently supported by one of the arguments by the national government of DRC in explaining the revision of