Barrick Ignores UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Recommendation Regarding Papua New Guinea Rapes
[ http://miningwatch.ca/news/2013/10/28/b ... -papua-new
News Release 28 October 2013, 11.36am EDT
Control the Corporations
Barrick GoldPapua New GuineaPorgera Mine - BarrickCorporate Social ResponsibilityGrievance MechanismsHuman Rights
News release: Barrick Gold is thumbing its nose at a recommendation by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [ http://miningwatch.ca/sites/default/fil ... pinion.pdf ] calling for an independent review of Barrick’s handling of victims of rape by security guards at Barrick’s Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Rather, Barrick’s remedial programme is reportedly processing rape victims this month and requiring legal waivers in exchange for benefits packages.
In August, MiningWatch Canada received a thirteen-page ‘opinion’ from the UN High Commissioner in response to letters MiningWatch had written to alert her to the fact that Barrick’s handling of rape victims at its mine in PNG is further undermining their rights. Barrick is making indigenous rape victims sign away their rights to sue the company in return for benefits packages. [ http://miningwatch.ca/news/2013/1/30/ra ... dy-barrick ] The compensation packages themselves are not proportional to the magnitude of the injuries the women have suffered.
Following a field visit in March, 2013, MiningWatch and other human rights experts concluded that Barrick’s remediation programme does not meet international human rights criteria and that the packages Barrick is offering the women are not ‘rights-compatible’. In particular, MiningWatch discovered that the rape victims themselves had not been consulted as to the remedy they might receive from Barrick. The women told MiningWatch that the items they had been offered, such as baby chicks to raise or second hand clothes to sell, did not meet their expectations or needs.
“Women told me that a culturally appropriate remedy would be mature pigs and cash with values considerably higher than those of the items being offered by Barrick,” says Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada. “Some women also sought remedies that would address the consequences of their rapes, such as loss of housing due to being ostracized.”
The UN High Commissioner is sufficiently concerned to have called for an independent review of Barrick’s remediation programme by a party that is considered credible by “key stakeholders.” MiningWatch Canada supports this call and has offered to participate in such a review. “Barrick should not process rape victims before submitting the programme to an independent review,” says Coumans.
For more information contact: Catherine Coumans, (613) 569-3439, catherine(at)miningwatch.ca
For background information see the OHCHR opinion
[ http://miningwatch.ca/sites/default/fil ... pinion.pdf ]
and MiningWatch Canada’s response letter of September 4, 2013
[ http://miningwatch.ca/sites/default/fil ... -09-04.pdf ]
= = = = =
Barrick Settlement on Rapes and Killings in Papua New Guinea Proof that Victims Need Independent Legal Counsel
[ http://www.miningwatch.ca/news/barrick- ... -legal-cou ]
April 3, 2015
Cases of Other Local Victims of Violence Need Review
Ottawa – April 3, 2015. Today, eleven of at least 120 women who claim to have been raped and gang raped by security guards at Barrick Gold’s [ http://barrick.com/ ] Porgera Joint Venture mine in Papua New Guinea, and three of many more men and their families who claim to have been the victims of violence and killing by security guards, finally got equitable settlements. These fortunate claimants were the clients of lawyers with US-based EarthRights International, [ http://www.earthrights.org/ ] who was prepared to file legal cases on their behalf.
“This case proves once again that victims of criminal acts at the hands of employees of companies such as Barrick Gold absolutely require truly independent legal counsel to ensure their legal and human rights are protected,” says Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada.
Once Barrick stopped years of denial of violence by mine security guards against local indigenous men and women at the remote mine, the company put in place its own “remedy program” at the mine site for the female rape victims. However, these women did not receive independent legal advice. And in return for remedy packages that many women themselves felt were not commensurate with the severe harm they had endured, women were required by Barrick to sign away their right to take civil action against Barrick and its subsidiaries.
“Our interviews with victims of rape by mine security in 2008, 2009 and 2013 provided evidence not only of the incredible extent of the problem, but also, once Barrick started offering ‘remedy packages,’ that women were insulted by what they were being offered,” says Coumans. “Public complaints over this to Barrick did improve the package somewhat, but we know that there were still women who accepted the package and signed away their legal rights only because they felt it was all they could get.”
Eleven women became clients of Earth Rights International, rejected the packages offered through the “remedy program,” and were prepared to take legal action. As a result, these women have now received the packages offered under the “remedy program,” as well as additional compensation to ensure that they would drop their legal claim.
“This case, and a similar one at Barrick’s North Mara subsidiary in Tanzania, raises serious concerns of equity for the victims,” says Coumans. “Porgeran women who suffered similar criminal offences, but did not have independent legal council willing to file a credible law suit on their behalf, were clearly at a disadvantage, and their cases should be reviewed.”
MiningWatch also questions why the remedy program for raped women was closed down as we are still receiving reports of violence by mine security. - 30 -
For more information contact: Catherine Coumans (613) 256-8331, catherine@miningwatch.ca
Previous MiningWatch Canada releases on Porgera:
In March 2011, MiningWatch Canada and local partners Akali Tange Association and Porgera Landowners Association filed an OECD Complaint against Barrick Gold that discusses the alleged rape cases, alleged killings, as well as other environmental and human rights concerns at the Porgera mine.
See [ http://www.miningwatch.ca/sites/www.min ... orgera.pdf ]
In January 2013, MiningWatch Canada, EarthRights International and UK-based Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) went public for the first time with detailed concerns about Barrick’s remedy program for the raped women in Porgera.
See [ http://www.miningwatch.ca/news/rape-vic ... dy-barrick ]
MiningWatch Canada has also raised concerns about rapes and Barrick’s “remedy program” in a number of letters to the UN High Commissioner.
See [ http://www.miningwatch.ca/ Home Page feature ].
MiningWatch Canada and RAID presented a brief on this issue to the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in December 2014.
See [ http://www.miningwatch.ca/sites/www.min ... -12-01.pdf ]
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