People in Congo-Kinshasa are being driven from their homes and subjected to violence and sexual abuse when authorities are supposed to facilitate companies that want to expand their industrial production in cobalt and copper mines.
This is what Amnesty International writes in a new report, where they have mapped the activities of six different mining projects in the country.
The report is based on interviews with 130 people and includes, among other things, testimonies that soldiers from the elite military force Republican Guard systematically set fire to houses in an area near one of the mines.
The conclusions are also based on analysis of satellite images and documentation of the devastation in the relevant locations.
Demand for metals such as copper and cobalt has skyrocketed in recent years due to its use in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries used to power both electric cars and mobile phones.
Amnesty now calls on the authorities in Congo-Kinshasa to “immediately stop the forced evictions, appoint an impartial commission of inquiry and strengthen and apply national laws relating to mining and forced evictions in line with international human rights standards”, the organization writes in a press release.