After a 23 year long legal battle, former Congolese employees at Comilog (La Compagnie Minière de l'Ogooué, Ogooué Mining Company), a Gabon based subsidiary of French mining company Eramet, finally obtained a conviction from the French Courts against their ex-employer to pay compensation, according to the Gabonese labor code, for terminating employment contracts without notice in 1992. The French Court ruling invoked ‘denial of justice’ with the employees in question not having been able to obtain redress in Gabon. It marks a step on the road to jurisdictions’ “universal competence” for such severe violations.
In this case all employees were working on the railroad that brought manganese, extracted from the Comilog Moanda mine (the second largest producer in the world) in Southeast Gabon to its export point at Pointe-Noire in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Following a mortal accident (100 deaths) involving a Comilog train in 1991, Gabon prohibited the transportation of manganese on Congolese railways and all activities halted at the company in Congo. With no notice given nor compensation paid, Com
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