Will governments act to address mining abuses? | Future Planet

When Norbert Amoya, 29, went to fetch water from a river in northern Zambia earlier this year, found a large number of dead fish and the water had a strange smell, he told a journalist. The cause was a serious mining disaster.

On February 18, a dam at a Chinese copper mine collapsed broke and dumped toxic waste into a tributary of Zambia’s largest river, threatening the ecosystem, endangering the livelihoods of millions of people and exposing communities to a serious risk of cancer and other diseases. Although the Chinese company has compensated For several residents, the long-term impact on the ecosystem and people’s livelihoods remains devastating. These types of disasters can be prevented.

From December 8 to 12, States met at the United Nations Environment Assembly, the world’s highest environmental policy-making body, and deliberated on how to do this. The Colombian government took the lead by proposing a new global treaty to address the environmental risks of mining, including human rights due diligence and traceability in mineral supply chains. Many other governments, including those of Armenia, Ecuador, Oman and Zambia, a country affected by pollution, joined the initiative, which advocates “environmentally sound management of minerals and metals.”

As demand for minerals for the energy transition, defense and other technologies increases, it is essential that governments around the world protect the environment and ensure the protection of human rights in the supply chains of all metals and minerals, whether mined legally or illegally, in industrial or small-scale operations, for the energy transition or for other purposes. Mandatory standards are urgently needed.

Given that environmental protections from the United States and the EU supply chain law are weakening, this initiative is a bold move. Civil society groups in mining-affected areas and international non-governmental organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have supported the initiative for a global treaty.

As a first step, Colombia and its allies have proposed a UN working group to explore options for binding and non-binding measures. These working groups have previously been successful in launching treaty processes, for example a UN treaty requiring governments to protect people from toxic mercury.

But there was resistance and negotiations at the summit were difficult. Some countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia, opposed any binding measures, and even the appointment of a working group. As a compromise, States decided to convene “dialogues” between governments and other stakeholders to discuss key issues such as resource recovery from mining waste and best practices for environmentally sound management of minerals and metals.

These are important and positive small steps, but mandatory standards will be needed to ensure that all actors in mining and mineral supply chains respect human rights and the environment. Voluntary measures by companies they are not enough to protect human rights and the environment, as they have repeatedly demonstrated the investigations of Human Rights Watch and other organizations.

The toxic spill in northern Zambia is just one of many serious mining accidents. In 2019, the collapse of a dam at an iron mine in Brazil It released several million cubic meters of toxic sludge and caused the death of at least 270 people. Just four months before the disaster, the Brazilian subsidiary of a German auditing company had declared the dam stable. The mining company had pressured auditors to certify the safety of the dam despite the obvious risks, according to revealed an investigation by the Brazilian Congress.

In other cases, toxic pollution and environmental destruction cause damage over longer periods. Exposure to mercury and other toxic metals in the context of mining has caused serious health risks for local communities in Peru, Ethiopia and Ghana. Mining has also caused serious destruction of the jungle amazonianwhich absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere daily, contributing to cooling the planet, with incalculable consequences for the climate crisis. A recent study has revealed an increase in deforestation in Peru. Indigenous peoples, as guardians of the environment, are often seen as especially affected by mining and suffer violations of their rights.

Furthermore, mining continues to contribute to violence by state security forces, armed groups or criminal groups. In the Venezuelan state of Bolívar, residents live in fear of violence from armed groups involved in the illicit gold trade, including amputations. Summary executions and forced child labor by armed groups still happening today. Human Rights Watch has also documented serious violence in mining areas of Peru, Zimbabwe, and the Central African Republic.

Going forward, governments must ensure that dialogues on the environmental impact of mining are robust, focus on human rights and define measures to establish binding standards.

Nsama Chikwanka, a Zambian activist who participated in the UN negotiations, told Human Rights Watch in the wake of the recent mining disaster: “Without common, enforceable standards, there is a race to the bottom that harms people and nature. For Zambia’s mining regions, this is not something abstract: it is about clean water, safer waste, and fairer agreements.”