APEDDH: Rwandan Mine Monitorisation for Human Rights Defence

ICoCA CSO Member since April 2023

Advocacy, Monitoring and Training

Action Pour l’Éducation et la Défense des Droits Humains (APEDDH) is a Rwandan non-governmental development organisation that identifies as humanitarian, apolitical, and non-denominational. APEDHH was founded in 2016 with its headquarters in Kigali City, Rwanda, and has plans to establish offices in all intervention districts within the nation. The organisation, currently consisting of 11 members, operates throughout Rwanda, focusing on three core pillars: advocacy, monitoring and training.

Leadership within APEDDH is comprised of the General Assembly, the Conflict Resolution Committee, the Auditing Committee, and the Executive Committee, each with crucial functions within the organisation’s system. The Executive Committee manages daily activities and ensures their smooth implementation, while the General Assembly sets the organisation’s general policies and philosophies. The Conflict Resolution Committee deals with member disputes to prevent escalation, and the Auditing Committee oversees the organisation’s functioning to address mismanagement or embezzlement. This leadership structure ensures accountability within APEDDH without external interference.

APEDDH’s Commitment to Local Humanitarian Awareness

Currently, APEDDH primarily focuses on raising awareness, providing training, defending, promoting and protecting human rights, and advocating systematically for beneficiaries in order to realise its ongoing projects within the national territory. In addition to these core areas, APEDDH also addresses topics such as human rights education, the sustainable management of natural resources, and the access to justice.

APEDDH is one of the few organisations dedicated to defending and promoting human rights within the mining and quarrying sector in Rwanda. Its members are committed to achieve tangible results in enhancing the living conditions of vulnerable, marginalised, and disadvantaged individuals while upholding human dignity and fundamental human rights.

Securing the Future for Rwandan Mine Monitorisation

Alexis Kizungu, Executive Director of APEDDH, explains that the organisation was “drawn to ICoCA’s experience in the mining sector, hoping to benefit from their proven expertise”. Additionally, APEDDH plans to enhance its capacity through training and seek financial support – actions that ICoCA can facilitate.

In its ongoing efforts, APEDDH has currently identified a total of 231 legal mining sites in Rwanda producing crucial 3T minerals, which are distributed across 24 districts out of the country’s 30 districts. Unfortunately, financial constraints have hindered the execution of comprehensive monitoring projects, resulting in the limitation of monitoring activities to just 27 mining companies and cooperatives. APEDHH has also encountered difficulties related to capacity building and acquiring the necessary expertise to operate professionally in the Rwandan mining sector and the Great Lakes region. According to Mr. Kizungu, financial support is therefore instrumental for APEDDH to carry out and effectively implementing a monitoring project across the 231 existing mining sites it has identified. Despite these challenges, the conducted monitoring activities have yielded positive outcomes, as confirmed by stakeholders on the ground.

APEDDH has been granted the opportunity to access all mining sites in the country. “With security ensured within the country and a team of dedicated and committed APEDHH members, our organisation remains hopeful about our future impact on the monitoring and advocacy of human rights within the spaces we target”, expresses Mr. Kizungu.