The mining of minerals critical to electric vehicle batteries and other green technologies in the Democratic Republic of Congo has led to human rights abuses, including forced evictions and physical assault, according to a new report rights groups.
DR Congo is by far the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a mineral used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other products, and it is also Africa’s top producer of copper, which is used in EVs, renewable energy systems and more.
In a 98-page report, Amnesty International and Congolese rights group IBGDH found that communities in and near the mining town of Kolwezi, in the DR Congo's south-east, had been forcibly evicted or threatened into leaving their homes to make way for mine expansions.
"The people living in the region should be benefiting from the growth in mining. Instead, many are being forced out of their homes and farmland," the report said.
Mining impact
Based on interviews with 133 people, documentary evidence and satellite imagery, the report analysed the impact of four mining projects in the area.
Entire settlements have been forcibly evicted, the report found, becoming "collateral damage of energy transition mining".
Such was the case with the settlement of Mukumbi, located in a mining concession near Kolwezi owned by the DRC-registered firm, Chemical of Africa SA.
Residents of the settlement were forced out in November 2016 by the authorities, according to former residents interviewed by researchers.
Destroyed dreams
"We weren’t able to retrieve anything," said ex-resident Kanini Maska, 57.
"We had nothing to survive on, and spent nights in the forest," he added.
Papy Mpanga, 37, gave a similar account. "The eviction destroyed my dreams," he said.
In a statement accompanying the report, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said the rights organisation recognises the crucial need to transition to renewable energy but demanded an end to abuses.
"The people of the DRC experienced significant exploitation and abuse during the colonial and post-colonial era, and their rights are still being sacrificed as the wealth around them is stripped away," she said.
