The seminar, held on 12–14 January at the Université Pédagogique Nationale in Kinshasa, focused on justice and labour conditions in artisanal mineral supply chains. The objective of the seminar was to promote dialogue between researchers, decision-makers and artisanal miners on justice and labour issues in mineral supply chains, and to fuel academic reflection, in order to define common avenues for research and action in the Great Lakes and Sahel regions.
Discussions covered key themes such as the transformation of mining landscapes, the relationship between conflict and mining, mineral sovereignty and the role of EMAPE (artisanal and small-scale mining), centre–periphery relations in mineral trade, and similarities and differences between traceability systems for so-called “responsible” minerals.
The seminar was organised in partnership with the Université Pédagogique Nationale (Kinshasa), the Institute of Social Sciences (INSS) in Ouagadougou, and the Study Group on Conflict and Human Security at ISP in Bukavu, with support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS).