LOCAL and international human rights groups have openly written to Acacia Mining’s Board of Directors over human rights violations at North Mara Gold Mine in the country.
The five Non-Governmental Organisations
(NGOs) are UK-based Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID),
MiningWatch from Canada, London Mining Network, UK-based CORE Coalition
and Dar es Salaam-based Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC).
They have addressed their letter to the
board chairman and members who meet for their annual meeting tomorrow in
London. But, reaching for comment yesterday, Acacia’s Managing Director
for Tanzania, Mr Asa Mwaipopo declined knowledge of the communication
to the board. “Let me find out if others in the office have seen it if
it is indeed an open letter,” Mr Mwaipopo told the ‘Daily News’ over the
phone.
The statement that RAID Executive
Director Anneke Van Woudenberg sent to the Daily News’ yesterday, urged
the board of directors of London Stock Exchange listed mining firm to
intervene in improving the company’s human rights record at its North
Mara Gold Mine.
The five groups charged that Acacia’s
new community grievance mechanism to address long standing human rights
and other complaints at North Mara Mine falls short of the firm’s human
rights obligations. “There has never been a more crucial time for
Acacia’s board, including Barrick Gold executives, to ensure Acacia
meets its human rights obligations,” said Ms Woudenberg.
She said there have been numerous
reports about serious human rights violations, including killings,
beatings and sexual assault at the mine over the past several years.
In March 2017, after considerable
pressure to publish further information, Acacia confirmed that there had
been 32 ‘trespasser-related’ fatalities over a two-year period between
2014 and 2016. However, the company failed to publish information about
injuries.
A 2016 parliamentary inquiry into
complaints at the mine received reports of 65 killings and 270 injuries
by the police and mine security. In September 2017, following a visit to
the North Mara Mine by a delegation of eminent international legal
judges and experts, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said
it was “deeply concerned about the gravity of the allegations and
difficulties the victims experienced in accessing any adequate remedy
and reparation.
” Following earlier criticism by RAID
and others, Acacia sought to revamp its flawed community grievance
mechanism, which provides a process for victims to bring human rights
and other complaints to mine officials for investigation, compensation
and remedy.
Acacia’s original mechanism appeared
primarily aimed at limiting the company’s legal liability. In a
confidential process, victims were pressed to sign settlements they did
not understand in the absence of a lawyer, waiving their rights to court
option. Acacia’s own statistics, published in 2017, showed that 93 per
cent of victims’ claims were rejected with no explanation provided.
The company’s revised mechanism, posted
for consultation to Acacia’s website in December 2017, falls well short
of what is required, the rights groups say.
In their letter, the groups says, “The
revised mechanism is still not compliant with the company’s human rights
obligations, including the effectiveness criteria for operational-level
grievance mechanisms set out under the UN Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights.
“It lacks human rights benchmarks,
transparency and independence, providing limited legal assistance for an
overly legalistic process and creates confusion about whether it will
accept complaints about police abuse at the mine site, among other
problems.
” LHRC official Felista Mauya challenged
Acacia Mining and Barrick Gold to take on board the views of Tanzanian
and international legal experts and ensure North Mara community
grievance mechanism is independent, fair and transparent.
“Tanzanians deserve to have their rights respected by multinational companies operating in the country,” she added.
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