NEW REPORT - Accompanying measures to the EU Regulation on responsible mineral sourcing: Towards an improved governance of the artisanal mining sector in the DR Congo

PRESS RELEASE

One week ago, on 16 March 2017, the European Parliament approved the European Regulation for the responsible sourcing of minerals originating from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. In its new report titled 'Accompanying measures to the EU Regulation on responsible mineral sourcing: Towards an improved governance of the artisanal mining sector in the DRC' released today, the European Network for Central Africa (EurAc) does not hereby intend to discuss the content of the new regulation but it rather wishes to focus on the “accompanying measures”, the non-legislative measures meant to ensure the effective implementation of the regulation. 

Based on our understanding of the challenges in the DRC’s artisanal mining sector, EurAc has identified in this report three main gaps, relating to the accompanying measures currently envisaged for the DRC, in the current approach adopted by the European Union (EU) and its Member States: the limited financial resources allocated to strengthening the governance of the artisanal mining sector, then the limited attention paid to local actors and finally the vagueness regarding the strengthening of political dialogue with the Congolese government and with other countries in the Great Lakes region.

Considering that the EU Regulation will not enter into force until 2021, the EU and its Member States have sufficient time to develop, finance and implement solutions to fill the gaps mentioned above. Based on a state of the art of the artisanal mining sector in the DRC and on an analysis of the accompanying measures envisioned by the EU, EurAc addresses in this new report the institutions of the EU with a set of recommendations aiming at filling the gaps in the accompanying measures for the DRC.

To read the full report 'Accompanying measures to the EU Regulation on responsible mineral sourcing: Towards an improved governance of the artisanal mining sector in the DRC' and EurAc recommendations to the EU, please read HERE. 

To read the Executive Summary of this report, please read HERE. 

EurAc spokesperson(s) are available for interview.

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