29 September 2009
Full Report
This report, the first of its kind, provides a snapshot of working conditions in Katanga in Chinese-run enterprises. It synthesizes the views, experiences, concerns and recommendations of Chinese and Congolese workers interviewed. The report is based on a survey carried out in 2008 by RAID into working conditions in Chinese private mining companies in Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The research was done in partnership with Action contre l’impunité pour les droits humains (ACIDH), a Lubumbashi-based NGO which provided invaluable support throughout. In Likasi, RAID’s NGO partner, PADHOLIK provided assistance. The objective of the research was to survey working conditions in Chinese companies operating in the mining sector in Katanga by getting information at source: from the workers themselves.
To this end over 140 Chinese and Congolese workers were interviewed and/or asked to complete questionnaires to help provide systematic input. Congolese workers seemed grateful and very enthusiastic about the opportunity to voice their views and concerns. Many talked about the abuses of human rights and labour rights they had encountered in their working lives. In Congo, although there is a labour inspection body (l’Inspection du Travail), workers have no effective right to a remedy since they cannot trust the authorities or the courts to uphold the law and to protect the human rights of formal or informal workers.
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