During the month of August 2011 RAID ran a human rights and natural resources training programme in Lubumbashi for NGOs from different provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The three-week intensive programme was funded by the Open Society Institute for Southern Africa (OSISA). RAID's Congolese partners, Southern Africa Revenue Watch (SARW) and Action Contre l'Impunite pour les Droits Humains (ACIDH,) provided facilitators and expert speakers.
The programme took place in the Centre de Retraite, "Les Buissonets", in the Tabac quarter of Lubumbashi. The twenty-nine participants were introduced to international human rights instruments and the Congolese legal framework including the Mining Code and Forest Code. A central focus of the programme was on research methods and the participants undertook field work in selected mining sites in Katanga. Speakers included Alexis Mikanji, the head of the Centre d'évaluation d'expertise et de certification des substances minérales précieuses et semi-précieuses (Ceec, Congo's Regulatory Mining Body); Jean Pierre Muteba, a civil society representative on the Executive Committee of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI;) Maitre Georges Kapiamba, the Deputy Director of ASADHO and a leading human rights lawyer; Maitre Marc Walu of MONUSCO's human rights division; and Professor Arthur Kaniki, an environmental expert at the University of Lubumbashi. The final part of the programme was devoted to advocacy. At the end of the programme the participants presented their research findings, which will be published on OSISA's website.
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