Read the Final Statement published by the NCP 8 August 2024: English
On 10 April 2023, three individuals, André Amisi Rushingwa, Delvaux Bwisibo Mukunda, and Raymond Minani Muganira, submitted a specific instance to the U.S. and Colombian NCPs alleging that Strategos Group LLC, an international mining holding company, had not observed the Concepts and Principles (Chapter I), General Policies (Chapter II), Human Rights (Chapter IV), Employment and Industrial Relations (Chapter V), and Combating Bribery and other Forms of Corruption (Chapter VII) provisions of the Guidelines. Specifically, issues concerned the alleged dismissal of several thousand employees in 1997 by Strategos’ predecessor, Société Minière et Industrielle du Kivu (SOMINKI), without severance pay or jobs with the new company that had taken over the gold mine assets in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The submitters asserted that, by virtue of its purchase of the former assets of SOMINKI, Strategos had responsibilities to the former employees of SOMINKI. The submission made a number of other allegations such as tax evasion and embezzlement. Strategos’ only apparent ties to the United States was through its incorporation in Delaware, which was where their mailing address was located. Strategos also reported a physical office in Bogota, Colombia, and operations in the DRC.
Two submissions related to the case had been filed against the gold mine’s previous holding companies Banro in 2016 (read more) and Gramercy in 2021 (read more). The Canadian NCP did not accept the case for further examination as Banro no longer had meaningful economic ties to Canada after its 2018 bankruptcy and change of domicile. Likewise, the U.S. NCP did not accept the case for further examination due to Gramercy’s divestment of its interest in the mines and lack of leverage over the new owner.
The NCP noted that Strategos appeared to be directly linked to the issue raised given its January 2023 acquisition of Banro’s DRC mining assets and that the submitters provided sufficient evidence to justify their legitimate interest. The NCP noted that the submitters’ other allegations, including claims of tax evasion and embezzlement, did not warrant further investigation as these claims were vague and unsupported, as well as unrelated to the submitters’ main point.
After contacting the submitters, both the U.S and Colombian NCP attempted to reach out to Strategos several times by mail, email, and visiting the company’s Bogota office address. None of the efforts received a response from the company.
On 8 August 2024, the U.S. NCP, joined by the Colombian NCP, published its final statement, deciding not to accept the case for further examination. The NCP determined that mediation would not contribute to the purposes and effectiveness of the Guidelines because of its inability to establish communications with the company and facilitate dialogue.
The NCP issued the following recommendations to the company, including to:
- Engage with the submitters on the issues raised.
- Review and implement the Canadian NCP’s recommendations to Banro in its May 2017 Final Statement and its March 2019 follow-up statement.
- Act consistently with the Guidelines, in particular following the recommendations that enterprises should respect human rights, engage meaningfully with relevant stakeholders as part of their due diligence, and respect workers’ rights to collective bargaining.