Meeting between AEFJN and the Belgian Ambassador to the Great Lakes
On the 19th March, AEFJN together with the Belgian Natural Resource Network and Mgr Maroy, Archbishop of Bukavu, met Ambassador Franck De Coninckune, the Belgian Foreign Office’s special envoy to the Great Lakes. This meeting came soon after the publication on 5th March 2014 by the EU Commission of a draft regulation on what are commonly called ‘conflict minerals’. AEFJN expressed concern that this proposal might not provide compulsory measures for the responsible sourcing of minerals from conflict or high risk areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mgr. Maroy, a first-hand witness of the situation faced by the people affected by the ‘conflict minerals’, considers that such a measure could protect people from suffering serious human rights violations. AEFJN was represented by Jose Luis Aranda Gutierrez.