Roger+Casement

Roger Casement and his Bio: In 1903, Roger Casement, then the British Consul at Boma, was commissioned by the British government to investigate the human rights situation in the Congo Free State. A long, detailed eyewitness report exposing abuses, the Casement Report, was delivered in 1904. The Congo Free State had been in the possession of King Leopold II of Belguim since 1885, when it was granted to him by the Berlin Conference. Leopold exploited the territory's natural resources (mostly rubber) as a private entrepreneur, not as Belgian King. Casement's report would be instrumental in Leopold finally relinquishing his personal holdings in Africa. When the report was made public, the Congo Reform Association, founded by E.D. Morel, with Casement's support, demanded action. Other European nations followed suit, as did the United States, and 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 and other critics of the King's Congolese policy, forced Léopold to set up an independent commission of inquiry, and in 1905, despite his efforts, it confirmed the essentials of Casement's report. On 15 November 1908, four years after the Casement Report, the parliament of Belgium took over the Congo Free State from Leopold and organized its administration as the Belgian Congo.

Your character is the cement that holds the prosecution's case together. You investigate and witness with your own eyes the atrocities committed by the FP against the native workers. You witness and record the mass mutilation of "dissident" workers. You also try and estimate the death toll from 1876-1908 to around 5 million people or 50% of the population. Create a detailed outline using the Roger Casement Report (found on the Prosecution and Defense Link) to create a well organized solid testimony against Leopold II. The outline will help you during the examination process and be sure to cite specific information from the report to make the prosecution's case strong.