The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has found the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo responsible for the 2004 massacre of over 70 people in Kilwa, in the southeast of the country, and granted landmark compensation of US $4.36 million to the victims and their families, three human rights groups who initiated the complaint said today.
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The Tanzanian government and investors should ensure Acacia Mining urgently addresses the human rights violations at the North Mara gold mine, including providing compensation to victims, as part of the current negotiations about the company’s operations in Tanzania, Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) said today. RAID released a new video detailing the stories of some of the victims in stark detail.
Patricia Feeney, RAID’s outgoing director, is retiring after 18 years during which she earned RAID the reputation as a small and highly effective organization spearheading efforts in the field of business and human rights. She will be replaced by Van Woudenberg, who was previously deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch.“
Private security company G4S allowed commercial considerations to take priority over human rights and corporate social responsibility commitments at Manus Island Detention Centre in Papua New Guinea, Patricia Feeney, RAID’s outgoing Executive Director, said at the United Nations in Geneva today.
A new report by RAID ‘Bribery in its purest form’: Och-Ziff, asset laundering and the London connection (released 5 January 2017) sets out the repeated failure of the UK regulatory authorities over a 10-year period to take action to prevent assets acquired through corrupt means being traded on the London markets.
Acacia’s Response to Globe and Mail Article raises more questions than it answers about human rights violations at the North Mara mine in Tanzania.[1] RAID and MiningWatch Canada note that Barrick has also responded to the newspaper article, recognising that violence at North Mara (‘there have been confrontations with police resulting in deaths’) is a matter of concern for Barrick as a majority shareholder in an affiliated mine.
For the first time the Tanzanian Government has acknowledged the scale of violence surrounding the North Mara Gold Mine, say MiningWatch Canada and the British NGO Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) in their most recent field assessment, Adding Insult to Injury at the North Mara Mine (released today).
RAID and MiningWatch Canada have engaged in extensive exchanges with Acacia Mining over the past two years about security and human rights concerns at the North Mara Gold Mine. Our organisations have been critical of the continuing high level of violence at the mine site and the lack of a transparent and effective remedy programme.
As noted in our recent blog Panama, Congo, Zimbabwe, London, New York: the vultures come home to roost, RAID had been seeking permission to appeal an earlier decision that HM Treasury was entitled to withhold information on its implementation of sanctions against Zimbabwe. The Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) has now granted RAID permission to appeal.
RAID recently lost the first round of a court case concerning freedom of information and sanctions against Zimbabwe. At first sight, and set against other momentous news and disclosures, this ruling on a point of law appears to have little consequence. However, the current furore over the ‘Panama Papers’ underlines its far-reaching significance.