DRC
Why M23 is not your average rebel group
February 6, 2023IPIS Briefing – January 2023 Ce briefing est également disponible en français The past year saw some major changes in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has been ravaged by armed groups for decades. One group in particular rose to the forefront, the Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23). The objectives of M23 are perched at the intersection of local, national and
Armed conflict, insecurity, and mining in eastern DRC: reflections on the nexus between natural resources and armed conflict
December 7, 2022download the report This report offers a new framework for looking at the eastern Congo conflict, one within which new evolutions of the past twenty years find a place. Indeed, violent conflict in eastern Congo has changed dramatically in all its aspects over the past two decades. Yet too often policymakers and observers appear to assume that we are dealing with a proxy war orchestrated from the D
Analysis of the interactive map of artisanal mining areas in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo – 2022 update
November 29, 2022In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector plays an important role in the local economy. While large-scale armed conflict over DRC’s mineral wealth has decreased significantly over the past twenty years, armed actors continuously interfere in the mining sector, and conflicts over resources at the local level are still common. Based on new minin
Is the UN overstaying its welcome in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
November 28, 2022IPIS Briefing October/November 2022 What is happening? Since July 2022 the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has seen a series of protests against MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping mission deployed in the DRC. The protests took place in multiple cities in eastern DRC, which has recently seen an increase in armed group activity. The protestors voiced their anger towards the UN for being unable to prote
Troubled waters in the Kasai. Pollution by the Angolan diamond industry and culpable negligence by the Congolese government
September 2, 2022IPIS Briefing August 2022 – Late July 2021, local media first reported on the brownish-red discoloration of hundreds of kilometers of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Tshikapa and Kasai rivers due to pollution from ‘industrial diamond mines’ in neighbouring Angola. About a year after the news reached the world press, hardly anything has been heard about the environmental disaster.
Responsible mining scorecard in eastern DRC
August 31, 2022Over the years, IPIS has systematically collected mine site and trade hub level data on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in eastern DRC. This data collection has enabled IPIS to generate a sizable database of more than 3,000 ASM sites that draws both on sites visited by IPIS and data from third party sources including the Congolese mining cadastre and the Mini
A fault confessed is half redressed: Glencore pleads guilty
June 27, 2022IPIS Briefing – June 2022 On the 24th May 2022, the Justice Department of the United States announced that Glencore pleaded guilty for foreign briberies and Market Manipulation Schemes in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and had accepted a USD 1.1 billion settlement. The same day, Glencore Energy UK Limited also made public that it would plead guilty in the invest
“The Blue Mine” as a new status for qualifying mine sites in DRC. The result of successful advocacy by the Madini Project
November 23, 2021On November 12th 2021, the National Minister of Mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Madam Antoinette N’Samba Kalambayi, signed the ministerial decree instituting a new status for the qualification /validation for artisanal mining sites: the Blue Status. Mine site qualification and validation (in line with the ICGLR’s Regional Certification Mechanism ) is a mandatory process in the DRC
New large-scale mapping project of artisanal and small-scale mining in eastern DRC launched
November 10, 2021Over the next two years, IPIS – in partnership with USAID, Tetra Tech and the Congolese Ministry of Mines (SAEMAPE) – will undertake a large-scale mapping effort of artisanal and small-scale mining sites in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the aim to provide observers, suppliers and policymakers with reliable data to understand artisanal mineral supply chains and conflict finan
Artisanal and small-scale mining Incident Tracker in eastern DRC
June 5, 2019Since the end of 2018 witnesses and victims of incidents and accidents related to artisanal small-scale production, transport and trading of minerals in the provinces of South-Kivu and Ituri can be reported. IPIS, in collaboration with the Bukavu based Expertise Centre on Mining Governance (CEGEMI) and Ulula,has developed a new, anonymous reporting system. View the ASM Incident Tracker The tool al
Working on conflict mapping through GIS – A goodbye from our latest GIS intern
May 29, 2019I arrived at IPIS in January of this year with the purpose to further improve my GIS skills and work on the topic of conflict mapping. Entering the IPIS premises and meeting the staff, my first impression of IPIS was that of a friendly and professional organization. They are lucky enough to be housed in an old monastery which seems like a small oasis in the middle of the loud and crowded city. Tha
Kufatilia: a new Incident Monitoring Mechanism for Gold Supply Chains
December 4, 2018“Today a man was killed in a pit collapse in an artisanal mining site near Numbi.” Civil society organizations, working to improve living conditions of artisanal and small-scale miners in Eastern DR Congo, regularly receive this kind of text message. Capture d’écran du système de Suivis des Incidents de l’Or (SIOr) Since a few weeks, incidents linked to the production, transport and selling of mi
Training and workshop on mapping artisanal mining in Eastern DRC
February 9, 2018(French version below) 2373 Mining sites visited, including 470 visits in the last thirteen months. 300 Roadblocks visited on a total of 798 mapped roadblocks. More than 18 000 km travelled by plane, bus, motorbikes and by foot… These are a few of the impressive results achieved by the twelve IPIS researchers in Eastern DRC. Late January, a workshop held in Goma gave IPIS researchers an opportun
Missing Maps Mapathon / Wednesday, 26 October 2016
October 4, 2016IPIS, Missing Maps and OpenStreetMap Belgium organise another Missing Maps MAPATHON on Wednesday October 26, at the IPIS library! IPIS Research and Openstreetmap Belgium invite you to come map for the Missing Maps project with us. By doing so, you will learn how to create the open maps that make the work of NGOs like Doctors Without Borders or IPIS Research easier. After the ev
Missing Maps mapathon / Wednesday, 29 June 2016
June 8, 2016IPIS, Missing Maps and OpenStreetMap Belgium organise another Missing Maps MAPATHON on Wednesday, June 29, at the IPIS library! IPIS Research and Openstreetmap Belgium invite you to come map for the Missing Maps project with us. By doing so, you will learn how to create the open maps that make the work of NGOs like Doctors Without Borders or IPIS Research easier. After the event, you wil
Missing Maps mapathon / Wednesday, 23 March 2016
February 17, 2016IPIS, Missing Maps and OpenStreetMap Belgium organise the mapping event ‘Missing Maps mapathon’ on Wednesday March 23 at the IPIS library! IPIS Research and Openstreetmap Belgium invite you to come map for the Missing Maps project with us. Doing so, you will learn how to create the open maps that make the work of NGOs like Doctors Without Borders or IPIS Research easier. After the event, you
Presentation of SAESSCAM database on Artisanal and Small-scale Mining
November 26, 2015From November 17 to 19, IPIS presented its work during a multi stakeholder meeting in Kinshasa as part of a project to support artisanal and small scale mining in DRC. In partnership with Pact and Estelle Levin LTD, IPIS has provided capacity reinforcement for the Service d’Assistance et d’Encadrement du Small Scale Mining (SAESSCAM), a governmental agency. IPIS focused on reviewing existing data
COMING SOON! Missing Maps mapathon / Wednesday, 9 December 2015
November 12, 2015IPIS, Missing Maps and OpenStreetMap Belgium organise the mapping event ‘Missing Maps mapathon’ on Wednesday December 9th at the IPIS library! The Missing Maps project is an open collaboration between the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), Doctors without Borders UK, and the British and American Red Cross. The goal of the project is to map the areas of the world that are the most sensitive to
Renforcement des capacités en gestion de données
July 24, 2015English version below. Du 19 au 23 juillet 2015, l’Equipe d’IPIS a organisé une formation à Kinshasa destinée aux agents de la Division des Mines, du Cadastre Minier et du Service d’accompagnement et d’encadrement du Small-scale mining (SAESSCAM). Cette formation de quatre jours a permis de renforcer les capacités des membres de ces organisations gouvernementales notamment dans les d
Exploitations artisanales et à petite échelle en RD Congo
April 1, 2015Launching ceremony of the artisanal and small scale mining project with Pact, ELL and IPIS in Kinshasa. Picture by Pact. – English below – Du 23 au 26 février, IPIS a participé au séminaire de lancement d’un nouveau projet “d’Elaboration d’un document stratégique sur les exploitations artisanales et à petite échelle”. En partenariat avec Pact et Estelle Levin LTD, IPIS travaille au renforcement de