An exploration of the environmental restorative justice framework in cobalt extractivism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: on the necessity of heightened sensitivity to african postcolonial settings

• Pages: 271-295
• Author: Celina Negassa,Brunilda Pali

AN EXPLORATION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE FRAMEWORK

...

IN COBALT

EXTRACTIVISM IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF

THE CONGO: ON THE NECESSITY OF HEIGHTENED

SENSITIVITY TO AFRICAN POSTCOLONIAL SETTINGS

Celina Negassa

University of Amsterdam

Celina Negassa y

Brunilda Pali

University of Amsterdam

1. INTRODUCTION

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a country known for its

abundance of natural resources, but also for dreadful conict arising from their

extraction. One natural resource specically has gained global prominence:

Cobalt. The DRC holds around 50 % of the world’s cobalt reserves and makes

up for above 70% of global production (RAID and CAJJ, 2021, p. 10). The

competition for mineral extraction has harmed the environment, induced

violent conicts and contributed to the general socio-political instability in

the country (UNEP, 2022). This includes violations like habitat destruction,

water- and air pollution, and child-and forced labor (Buxton, 2021). Due to

the contemporary strive for alternatives to fossil fuel and ‘green economies’,

these grave abuses of basic rights have become more prominent (Dorn, 2022,

p. 138). Most approaches to reduce global emissions are technological, for

instance, the use of electric cars (ibid.). Further, it has raised discussions about

the continuous consolidation of global asymmetries between countries of the

Global North and South. Extractivism in countries of the Global South deepens

geographically asymmetrical relations between dominant economic actors and

those populations impoverished by the domination of the former (Bruna, 2021,

pp. 181, 185). This enables capital accumulation and green transitions to be

272 Celina neGaSSa y brunilda pali

built upon uneven and exploitative exchange relations, which among scholars is

labeled green extractivism (ibid.).

The existence of these rights’ abuses raises the question of how such harm

can and should be addressed. One possible answer is environmental restorative

justice (ERJ), a sub-eld of restorative justice, focusing on restoring relations

between victim and perpetrator, and extending the idea of victimhood, to include

other-than human members of communities and give intrinsic value to nature

(Killean, 2022, p. 254). ERJ highlights the importance of contextualizing harms,

paying attention to their historical background, making it interesting to observe

whether this approach can work in a postcolonial setting. In such contexts

violations of the environment happen on top of a base of unequal development,

creating injustice within and among countries, because of the colonial era

(Minguet, 2021, p. 67). Consequently, it is interesting to research the extent to

which ERJ, as a relatively new framework, holds in the Congolese postcolonial

context. The concept has been applied to postcolonial settings, but primarily in

Latin American contexts (see i.e. Bolívar et al., 2022; Rodriguez, 2022). Thus, the

exploration of ERJ outside this context widens the literature and supports a more

complete picture of the applicability of the framework. Additionally, it takes the

concept of green extractivism out of the Latin American context and answers

calls for the exploration of the multiplicity of stakeholders in the global energy

transition (Dorn, 2022). Lastly, it complements literature focused on mining

in the DRC, by providing a holistic, and more global perspective. Therefore,

this chapter aims to investigate the potential and limits of ERJ in addressing

harms caused by cobalt extractivism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Exploring ERJ in a setting with colonial history puts the population of former

colonies into the focus of conversations around conict and raises awareness

for present day inuences of colonial times and connected disadvantages.

This chapter proceeds by rstly providing an overview of the research and

scholarly debate on cobalt mining in the DRC. Secondly, the ERJ framework

and connected theories, which guide the analysis, are outlined. After this, the

methodological framework and process of data-collection are explained. The

analysis commences with a historical contextualization of cobalt extractivism

in the DRC, followed by an identication of harms and injustices. Stemming

from these two pillars, a stakeholder identication is conducted, including a

differentiation between victims and perpetrators. Next, the limits and potential

will be assessed by exploring the circumstances under which cobalt extraction

happens in the DRC through the lens of the six principles of ERJ as laid out by

Margaret Walker (2006) and elaborated on by Budó and Pali (2023). Finishing

off the analysis, the importance of heightened sensibility towards African

postcolonial contexts and differences in colonial history is outlined. We argue

that in the case of the DRC the limits to ERJ far exceed its potential, stemming