African Great Lakes Region: Independent Mineral Chain Auditor

Aug 4, 2015 | International Conference on the Great Lakes Region
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The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) is an inter- governmental organization of 12 countries in the African Great Lakes Region with a conference secretariat in Bujumbura, Burundi. Based on the Declaration of Lusaka of December 15, 2010, the ICGLR aims to operationalize the six tools of the Regional Initiative against the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources (RINR) in all its member states.The Regional Certification Mechanism (RCM) forms a core tool of the RINR, and the Independent Mineral Chain Auditor (IMCA) office represents a critical component for the functioning and credibility of the ICGLR Certificates. The IMCA is an important guarantee of regional compliance with ICGLR standards, and of on-going conflict monitoring and risk assessment.

The IMCA represents an ombudsman and “special investigator” within the RCM  scheme.  Among  other  functions,  the  IMCA  office  is  required  to undertake continuous system-level process  conformity and compliance monitoring of the RCM framework (including all institutional structures  relevant to the RCM at both national and regional levels) as well as perform on-going risk assessments and supply chain monitoring (against the relevant ICGLR standards), especially on issues that are not easily captured through the complementary ICGLR third party audit system. The ICGLR Mineral Chain Auditor investigations comply with OECD Due Diligence guidelines on independent verification and on-going risk assessment.