CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT

Global Justice Clinic Calls for Transparency in the Development of Haiti’s Mining Sector

On July 24th, the Haitian media reported that Senator Hervé Fourcand submitted a draft mining law to Parliament for its consideration.  This law has not been made available to the public despite repeated requests made by GJC collaborator, the Kolektif Jistis Min (KJM), a collective of Haitian social movement organizations that support communities affected by metal mining.  The passage of the mining law would unlock the sector.  The law that currently governs mining in Haiti is seen as outdated, and considered the key obstacle to future metal mining.

In late August, GJC Haiti Project Director Ellie Happel and Oxfam America staff met with members of Congress and the State Department in Washington, D.C. The objective of the meetings in D.C. was to request that U.S. actors encourage the Haitian government to disclose the draft law and to hold a meaningful public debate about its content. Such a debate is crucial at this time, since Haiti does not yet have a modern mining industry, and the human rights and environmental risks attendant to the nascent sector are significant.  At the beginning of December, Representative Jan Schakowsky of Illinois submitted a letter to the President of Haiti’s Parliament, suggesting that he makes the draft law public and stating concerns about the human rights and environmental risks that mining poses. Four other members of Congress signed the letter.

The lack of access to information about Haiti’s mining sector is a longstanding problem.  In 2013, the Haitian Senate passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on mining, citing the “opacity” of information about the country’s mineral resources.  In 2015 GJC and KJM testified at a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the situation of the right to access to information in Haiti.  The Commission found the testimony about the “existing obstacles to the exercise of the right of access to public information”—specifically in the context of mining—“troubling.”

GJC provides an extensive analysis of the draft mining law in its report co-authored with Hastings College of Law, Byen Konte, Mal Kalkile? Human Rights and Environmental Risks of Gold Mining in Haiti.  GJC found that this version of the draft law fails to adequately protect Haiti’s environment, violates the Haitian Constitution of 1987, and does not respect the rights of Haitian communities.  GJC created a brief analysis of the law to use in advocacy efforts.  GJC translated it into Kreyòl, and KJM similarly uses it in advocacy efforts in Haiti, including to inform radio interviews.

August 29, 2017. 

CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT

World Bank Refuses to Consider Haitian Communities’ Complaint about New Mining Law

Complaint Office Recognizes “Legitimate” Concerns, Rejects Complaint on Technical Grounds

Last week, the World Bank Inspection Panel refused to consider a complaint from Haitian communities about the Bank’s support for development of the mining sector in Haiti.  Communities affected by mining activity and the Justice in Mining Collective, a group of six Haitian civil society organizations, submitted the complaint in early January, alleging violations of their rights to information and participation and threats of human rights abuses and environmental harms.  The Inspection Panel—an office established to address complaints from people affected by World Bank-sponsored projects—recognized that the complaint raised “serious and legitimate” concerns and that the mining industry presents significant risks.  The office nevertheless denied the complaint on narrow, technical grounds.  The complainants expect to receive a copy of the decision in French today.[1]

Communities’ concerns about the development of the mining industry stem in part from their experiences with mineral exploration to date.  Farmers report that they have lost crops and watched fertile land turn barren; they allege that companies have entered and operated in their communities without seeking permission; and they contend that they have nowhere to bring their concerns.  Now, the World Bank’s complaint office has declared that it will not investigate their grievances.  “For the Panel to recognize that our concerns are legitimate and yet refuse to register the case, it is as if the lives of Haitian people do not matter to the World Bank,” said Peterson Derolus, Co-Coordinator of the Justice in Mining Collective.

The farmers and families in rural communities where mining companies have explored for gold have been systematically excluded from conversations about the mining industry.  In 2014, the World Bank crafted a new mining law in close consultation with mining company executives and Haitian government authorities.  The reforms largely have taken place behind closed doors.  “To date, even Parliament has been excluded from the process of drafting the new law,” Derolus said. “But the Haitian Constitution states that mineral resources belong to the State, meaning not only the government, but also the Haitian people.”

The World Bank’s own policies normally require it to ensure transparency and meaningful public consultation and to adhere to environmental and social standards in all its operations.  The Inspection Panel found that those safeguards do not apply to the “Bank-Executed Trust Fund” used to finance the revision of Haiti’s mining law, even though they do apply to similar Bank projects funded in different ways.  Noting this inconsistency, the Panel called for reforms to ensure that the Bank applies its safeguards to technical assistance projects like this one based on the risk of environmental and social harm, rather than the particular financing mechanism used.

“The World Bank is providing assistance that will change the entire legal regime for mineral mining in Haiti.  It chose to do so in a way that exempts the project from the Bank’s own safeguard policies, including those that require community participation,” said Sarah Singh of Accountability Counsel, an organization representing affected Haitian communities.  “The Bank should not have discretion to avoid community complaints regarding a project that poses such clear human rights and environmental risks.”

The risks are particularly acute today in Haiti—a country known for its devastated environment, poor infrastructure, and lack of rule of law—as the state is in the midst of a major political crisis.  Since January, President Martelly has ruled by decree.  Parliament, which had objected to the way the Executive was developing the mining industry, has been dissolved.  The past few weeks have seen increasing protests and multiple days of nationwide transit strikes.  “We call on the World Bank to recognize the grave risks it incurs in developing the mining industry in Haiti and to endorse a moratorium on mining until a meaningful national debate is held and other community demands have been met,” said Margaret Satterthwaite, Director of the Global Justice Clinic, which represents affected Haitian communities.  “If the Bank-backed mining law is passed by decree, Haiti will be open to the gold mining business without the consent of its people.”

[1] The World Bank’s complaint office, the Inspection Panel, is an independent office that investigates allegations by people who claim to have experienced harm or who fear future harms as a result of World Bank projects. The Notice of Non-Registration is available in English. The Panel indicated that the Notice of Non-Registration would be made available in French on February 17, 2015.  The complaint is also available in English and in French.

This post was originally published as a press release on February 17, 2015. 

CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT

Haitian Communities File Complaint about World Bank-Supported Mining Law

Sound Alarm about Lack of Participation, Environmental and Social Protections

Haitian communities and organizations filed a complaint with the World Bank regarding Bank-supported activities to develop Haiti’s mining sector today.The complaint has been submitted to the World Bank Inspection Panel, an independent office that investigates allegations by people who claim to have experienced harm or who fear future harm as a result of World Bank projects. The complaint alleges that the Haitian populace has been left out of World Bank-funded efforts by the Haitian government to draft new mining legislation intended to attract foreign investors to exploit Haiti’s gold and other minerals. Complainants contend that the Bank has failed to follow its own social and environmental safeguard policies or ensure that the new legal framework adheres to international best practices. They fear that allowing the mineral sector to develop without much-needed human rights and environmental protections and without public consultation could harm rather than help Haiti. The complaint can be read in English and French.

“The mining law will attract investment from foreign mining companies and yet the government does not have the ability to monitor environmental impacts or to promote the interests of the affected communities,” said Nixon Boumba, a representative of the Kolektif Jistis Min (Mining Justice Collective), a group of six Haitian organizations and dozens of communities who filed the complaint. Haitian people who have had the chance to learn about the government’s efforts to develop the sector share serious reservations about the new mining law and the broader effort to encourage mining: over 400 people in Haiti have signed a petition stating their concerns with mining sector development and demanding access to accurate information about mining and its potential impacts on Haitian people and the well-being of the country. The petition also requests a national debate and a full, public review of this strategy before the proposed mining legislation is finalized.

Some communities in Haiti have already had negative experiences with companies exploring for minerals on or near their land. “We have seen impacts that make us worry,” explained a complainant and community leader from northern Haiti. “People who have begun to understand what mining could mean, what an open-pit mine is, they are worried about how it will affect the environment and the way we live now.” Communities also claim that companies have already drilled and excavated on their land without seeking proper consent.
Complainants also fear the consequences of encouraging mining without ensuring the Haitian government’s ability to enforce social and environmental protections. The government has suffered from inadequate resources and failed regulatory processes for years, and the country’s recent protests and governmental instability underscore ongoing capacity issues.[1] “The World Bank is backing a law to promote investment in mining at a time of growing political turmoil,” said Professor Margaret Satterthwaite of the New York University School of Law Global Justice Clinic, which represents affected Haitian communities. “It would be irresponsible to open up the sector in the context of such governmental instability and without a full analysis of its impacts.”

“The World Bank’s assistance aims to change the entire legal regime for mineral mining in Haiti,” said Sarah Singh of Accountability Counsel, an organization representing affected Haitian communities. “Given the serious social and environmental risks associated with this industry, the Bank must ensure that the new law is developed with participation from civil society and includes provisions to protect human rights and adhere to international best practices.”

This post was originally published as a press release on January 7, 2015.