Document library

RAID Submission to the UN Working Group on PMSC

A submission presented by RAID to the UN Working Group examining the human rights impact of private military and security companies operating in the extractive industry.

RAID Submission to the UN Working Group on PMSC

African Commission: Landmark $2

Press Release on landmark decision by the African Commission of Human and Peoples Rights on the Kilwa Massacre in DR Congo.

African Commission: Landmark $2.5 Million Award to DR Congo Massacre Victims

Q&A on the Kilwa Massacre Decision of African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights

A background Q&A on the landmark Kilwa Massacre decision of the African Commission of Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR)

Q&A on the Kilwa Massacre Decision of African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights

Bribery in Its Purest Form

Reports on the repeated failure of the UK regulatory authorities over a 10-year period to take action to prevent assets acquired through corrupt means being traded on the London markets.

In September 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (Och-Ziff), one of the largest hedge funds in the world, with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which regulates the New York stock exchange, also announced that Och-Ziff had agreed to settle civil charges of violating the FCPA. RAID’s report examines the corrupt transactions in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and suspicious payments in Zimbabwe, as detailed by the SEC and DOJ.

Bribery in Its Purest Form

oz_bribery_in_its_purest_form_executive_summary_rev

Reports on the repeated failure of the UK regulatory authorities over a 10-year period to take action to prevent assets acquired through corrupt means being traded on the London markets.

In September 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (Och-Ziff), one of the largest hedge funds in the world, with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which regulates the New York stock exchange, also announced that Och-Ziff had agreed to settle civil charges of violating the FCPA. RAID’s report examines the corrupt transactions in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and suspicious payments in Zimbabwe, as detailed by the SEC and DOJ.

oz_bribery_in_its_purest_form_executive_summary_rev.pdf

pr_us_hedge_fund_corruption_settlement

The report by RAID ‘Bribery in its purest form’: Och-Ziff, asset laundering and the London connection  sets out the repeated failure of the UK regulatory authorities over a 10-year period – despite warnings from UN Experts, due diligence studies and compliance watch lists – to take action to prevent assets acquired through corrupt means being traded on the London markets.

pr_us_hedge_fund_corruption_settlement.pdf

pr_oecd_finalstatementt_enrc_drc

After an ignominious exit from the London Stock Exchange, the Eurasian Resources Group (ERG, formerly ENRC) has been publicly criticised by the UK Government for failing to address human rights impacts at mine sites under the control of its subsidiaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).[1]  ENRC had tried – but ultimately failed – to get the adverse findings overturned.  In a complaint brought by RAID and its Congolese partner, Action contre l'impunite pour les droits humains (ACIDH), the UK’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, who concluded:

• ‘ENRC has not engaged effectively with two stakeholder communities on the concessions, and has not taken adequate steps to address impacts on the communities’.
• ‘ENRC has not met the obligation to address human rights impacts with which it is involved’.

• ‘One of the impacts that is not adequately addressed is a threat to the security of community access to safe drinking water. The right to safe water is a human right’.

pr_oecd_finalstatementt_enrc_drc.pdf

pr_voluntary_principles_ungps

In April 2016 the Government of Canada takes over as chair of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPs). NGOs are calling on the Canadian government to seize the opportunity to correct practices that undermine the prospects of impoverished communities overseas to seek remedy for corporate abuse.  RAID and MiningWatch Canada warn that the UN Guiding Principles and the VPs allow companies to privatise and control the implementation of human rights, and that this is most apparent in the implementation of “operational level” grievance mechanisms. RAID’s new report Principles without justice: the corporate takeover of human rights (here) released in advance of 2016 plenary meeting of the Voluntary Principles Iniativie in Colombia examines the deficiencies with the VPs and Guiding Principles and further details recommendations for reform

pr_voluntary_principles_ungps.pdf

principles_without_justice

This report, Principles without justice – the corporate takeover of human rights, offers an in-depth critique of company complaints mechanisms as practised by two extractive industry companies Acacia Mining (formerly African Barrick Gold, ABG) operating in Tanzania and Glencore’s subsidiary, the Kamoto Copper Corporation (KCC), in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Both companies have explicitly endorsed the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (‘GPs’) and adhere to the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (‘VPs’), although only Glencore is a participant in the initiative.  Acacia Mining claims adherence to the VPs by virtue of Barrick Gold (its majority shareholder) being a signatory and member of the Voluntary Principles Plenary.

principles_without_justice.pdf

second_witness_statement_of_patricia_feeney

Second Witnesss Statement of Patricia Feeney, Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) v (1) The Information Commissioner, (2) Her Najesty's Treasury, Case No. EA/2015/0019, First- Tier Tribunal (Information Rights)

second_witness_statement_of_patricia_feeney.pdf