The Casement Report was a 1904 document by British diplomat Roger Casement

Roger Casement

Roger David Casement —Sir Roger Casement CMG between 1911 and shortly before his execution for treason, when he was stripped of his British honours—was an Irish patriot, poet, revolutionary, and nationalist....

 (1864-1916) detailing abuses in the Congo Free State

Congo Free State

The Congo Free State was a large area in Central Africa which was privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Its origins lay in Leopold's attracting scientific, and humanitarian backing for a non-governmental organization, the Association internationale africaine...

 which was under the private ownership of King Leopold II of Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. This report was instrumental in Leopold finally reliquishing his private holdings in Africa. Leopold had ownership of the Congolese state since 1885 (granted to him by the Berlin Conference

Berlin Conference

The Berlin Conference of 1884–85 regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period, and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence as an imperial power...

) in which he exploited its natural resources (mostly rubber) for his own private wealth.

Publicity 1895-1903

For many years prior to the Casement Report there were reports from the Congo alleging widespread human rights abuses and exploitation of the native population. In 1895 the situation was reported to Dr Henry Grattan Guinness (1861–1915), a missionary. He established a mission and was promised action by Leopold II in late 1895, but nothing changed. H.R. Fox-Bourne of the Aborigines' Protection Society

Aborigines' Protection Society

The Aborigines' Protection Society was an international human rights organisation, founded in 1837, to protect the health and well-being and the sovereign, legal and religious rights of the indigenous peoples subjected by colonial powers. The Society published tracts, pamphlets, Annual Reports and...

 had published Civilisation in Congoland in 1902. The journalist E. D. Morel

E. D. Morel

Edmund Dene Morel, originally Georges Eduard Pierre Achille Morel de Ville was a British journalist, author and socialist politician. In collaboration with Roger Casement, the Congo Reform Association and others, Morel, in newspapers such as his West African Mail, led a campaign against slavery...

 also wrote several articles about the Leopoldian government's behaviour in the Congo Free State.

In 1903, two years after the death of Queen Victoria, King Leopold's cousin, the British House of Commons passed a critical resolution on the Congo. Subsequently, the British consul at Boma in the Congo, Irishman Roger Casement, was instructed to investigate. His 1904 report, which confirmed Morel's accusations, had a considerable impact on public opinion.

Casement met and became friends with Morel just before the publication of his report in 1904 and realized that he had found the ally he had sought. Casement convinced Morel to establish an organization for dealing specifically with the Congo question. He, with Casement's assistance, set up and ran the Congo Reform Association

Congo Reform Association

The Congo Reform Association exposed gross and rampant abuses of labor and by public servants in King Leopold II of Belgium's Congo Free State, leading to the annexation of Congo by Belgium in 1908. In March, 1904, Dr. Henry Grattan Guinness , Edmund Dene Morel, and Roger Casement founded the Congo...

 which worked to end Leopold's control of the Congo Free State. Branches of the association were established as far away as the United States.

The Report

The Casement Report comprises forty pages of the Parliamentary Papers, to which is appended another twenty pages of individual statements gathered by the Consul, including several detailing the grim tales of killings, mutilation, kidnapping and cruel beatings of the native population by soldiers of the Congo Administration of King Leopold. Copies of the Report were sent by the British government to the Belgian government as well as to nations who were signatories to the Berlin Agreement in 1885, under which much of Africa had been partitioned. The British Parliament demanded a meeting of the 14 signatory powers to review the 1885 Berlin Agreement. The Belgian Parliament, pushed by socialist leader Emile Vandervelde

Emile Vandervelde

thumb|upright|Emile VanderveldeEmile Vandervelde was a Belgian statesman, born at Ixelles. He studied law at the Free University of Brussels and became doctor of laws in 1885 and doctor of social science in 1888.-Activities:Vandervelde became a member of the Parti Ouvrier...

 and other critics of the King's Congolese policy, forced a reluctant Léopold to set up an independent commission of enquiry. Its findings confirmed Casement's report in every detail. This led to the arrest and punishment of officials who had been responsible for murders during a rubber-collection expedition in 1903 (including one Belgian national who was given a five year sentence for causing the shooting of at least 122 Congolese natives).

Reform by 1912

Despite these findings, Leopold managed to retain control of the Congo until 1908 when the Parliament of Belgium annexed the Congo Free State (Belgian Congo

Belgian Congo

The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...

) and took over its administration. However the final push came from Leopold's successor King Albert I

Albert I of Belgium

Albert I reigned as King of the Belgians from 1909 until 1934.-Early life:Born Albert Léopold Clément Marie Meinrad in Brussels, he was the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and his wife, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen...

, and in 1912 the Congo Reform Association

Congo Reform Association

The Congo Reform Association exposed gross and rampant abuses of labor and by public servants in King Leopold II of Belgium's Congo Free State, leading to the annexation of Congo by Belgium in 1908. In March, 1904, Dr. Henry Grattan Guinness , Edmund Dene Morel, and Roger Casement founded the Congo...

had the satisfaction of dissolving itself.

External links

• Excerpts of the Casement Report