“The forced evictions taking place as companies seek to expand industrial-scale copper and cobalt mining, projects are wrecking lives and must stop now,” said Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard. “Amnesty International recognises the vital function of rechargeable batteries in the energy transition from fossil fuels, but climate justice demands a just transition.”
The report: ‘Powering change or business as usual?’ was written with DRC-based Initiative pour la Bonne Gouvernance et les Droits Humains (IBGDH).
To produce it, Amnesty and IBGDH interviewed more than 130 people at six different mining projects in and around the city of Kolwezi during two visits in 2022. Researchers, said Amnesty, reviewed documents, correspondence, photographs, videos, satellite images and company responses.
“People are being forcibly evicted, or threatened or intimidated into leaving their homes, or misled into consenting to derisory settlements,” said IBGDH president Donat Kambola. “Often there was no grievance mechanism, accountability, or access to justice.”
The report urges the DRC authorities to immediately end forced evictions, instigate an impartial commission of inquiry, and strengthen and enforce national laws related to mining and evictions in line with international human rights standards.
At the same time, Amnesty said: “The authorities have carried out or facilitated forced evictions and failed in their obligation to protect people’s rights.”
DRC has the world’s largest reserves of cobalt, and the seventh largest reserves of copper, said Amnesty, adding that the average electric vehicle battery requires >13kg of cobalt, and there is ~7g in a mobile phone.