The Congo Tribunal

„The oligarchy of globalized financial capital has created a cannibalistic world order"
- Jean Ziegler

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In the guise of development aid and regional economic development and under surveillance of large multinationals, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, enormous free trade zones have emerged in Eastern Congo and other regions of Africa.

Monitored by the UN and in cooperation with local governments, these "protectorates" are used to extract raw materials and grow agricultural crops for the production of Biodiesel on a huge scale.

Is Eastern Congo a laboratory for a neocolonial system of exploitation, which aims at facilitating access to raw materials for multinational companies through a long-term destabilization of geo-strategically relevant regions? And what does the world map of this "new colonialism" look like, what is its morality, its background and vision?

6.1

"The corporations that dominate this world have no interest in making human rights truly universal."

Jean Ziegler (expert) is a Swiss sociologist and one of the best-known globalization critics worldwide. He is a member of the advisory committee of the United Nations Human Rights Council and is a specialist in the role of the World Bank and the strategies of a consciously used "poverty policy".

transparency MONUSCO United Nations International Court of Justice human rights multinational companies DR Congo government Rwanda China corruption Mobutu crimes against humanity Belgium

6.2

"If the government is corrupt, the corporations will not be able to help us with industrialization either."

Prince Kihangi (member of the jury, Bukavu) is a lawyer and one of the leading experts on the governance of natural resources in the Great Lakes region. He is the spokesman of the civil association of Walikale (province of North Kivu). Therefore he takes part in all negotiations between the villagers, the government and the big companies from this region. He is considered to be one of the harshest critics of the Dodd-Franck Act.

member of the jury Bukavu artisanal mining local population industrial mining MPC / Alphamin multinational companies commodity certification mining contracts corruption

6.3

"The idea to protect themselves and the community by militias arises in the minds of the people."

Sylvestre Bisimwa (investigator-in-charge, Bukavu / Berlin) is a lawyer in a mass rape trial committed by the Congolese army in the city of Minova. It is, at present, the only process of this kind. He regularly acts as lawyer at the International Court of Justice in Den Haag.

chairman Bukavu Berlin impunity mapping report NGOs DR Congo government Rwanda massacres crimes against humanity Protection of the civilian population MONUSCO

6.4

"International companies want a weak government and a powerless local population."

Vénatie Bismiwa Nabitu (member of the jury, Bukavu) is a human rights activist from Bukavu (Province of South Kivu) and one of the most committed critics of the NGOs, the UN and the big multinational corporations in Africa. She specialized in the field of mass rapes as a war strategy and the continued existence of colonial structures in the current Congolese society.

member of the jury Bukavu rape Rwanda Protection of the civilian population human rights multinational companies DR Congo government Banro MONUSCO United Nations

6.5

"The measures to improve mining have ultimately led to fraud."

Zacharie Bulakali (expert) is an expert in artisanal and industrial mining in the DR Congo. He acts as a liaison officer between the local civil society organizations and the Congolese mining authorities. He heads various research projects in the Great Lakes region.

expert Belgium Mobutu Rwanda Sominki artisanal mining Dodd-Frank Act traceability commodity certification Banro Mai-Mai Rebels

6.6

"The competent authorities have not done anything against the extent of the problems, so they have to be replaced."

Jean-Louis Gilissen (chairman of the Tribunal, Bukavu / Berlin) is an international criminal law expert. As a lawyer he took part in a trail against Congolese milita leaders at the International Court of Justice in Den Haag. Furthermore he was involved in the elaboration of an UN-report about Eastern Congo where the situation has been declared as “genocide”.

chairman Bukavu Berlin OECD-Guidelines MONUSCO United Nations human rights Protection of the civilian population International Court of Justice

6.7

"My daily struggle takes place in the negotiations between the companies and the local population."

Gilbert Kalinda (member of the jury, Bukavu) is an attorney and deputy in Walikale. He was a member of a cooperative of regional miners until he decided to accept the mandate of the multinational company MagMinerals Potasses Congo (MPC). In his opinion, industrial extraction of raw materials is the only opportunity for the region.

member of the jury Bukavu artisanal mining local population industrial mining multinational companies MPC / Alphamin