REPORT - Accompanying Measures to the EU Regulation on Responsible Mineral Sourcing. Towards an improved governance of the artisanal mining sector in the DRC - March 2017

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.