Africa

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The struggle of the former Zaire towards democracy and away from extreme exploitation and impoverishment has been a difficult and violent process. Mining has been a lucrative business in the Congo since colonial times, but it has also been brutal and hugely destructive of the environment and peoples' health. While mining companies maintain they can bring jobs and prosperity, it is a difficult environment in which to work ethically.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Includes a resource extraction section among its 10,000 articles from alternative sources from and about Africa, plus an e-zine of original writing, all for the promotion of human rights and economic justice.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The streets are hardly paved with gold. Despite producing gold on an industrial scale since 1873 – over nine million ounces’ worth – the place is really not much better off than the rest of the country. Scattered chunks of tarmac are the only evidence that the main road from Tarkwa to Prestea had once been paved.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Over the past couple of years, Private Member’s Bill C-300 had MiningWatch focused on efforts to bring about legislative change through the Canadian parliament in order to hold our extractive industry to greater account for its operations abroad. But while our attention has been on Parliament Hill, Canadian courts have become another important front in the battle against corporate impunity.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

News release: Five organizations, from Zambia, Switzerland, France, and Canada, have filed a complaint today against Glencore International AG and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. before the Swiss and Canadian National Contact Points (NCP) for violating the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

News release: In defence of beleaguered Minister of International Cooperation, Bev Oda, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Parliament that the Canadian International Development Agency should give money only to “the poorest and the most vulnerable.” This is NOT what CIDA is doing.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

(Adapted from the joint news release.) An association representing Congolese citizens filed a class action against Anvil Mining Limited in a Montreal court on November 8, 2010. The group alleges that by providing logistical assistance the company was involved in human rights abuses, including the massacre by the Congolese military of more than 70 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo in October, 2004.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

News release from the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), the Muslim Council of Tanzania (BAKWATA), and the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT): A new report published by the Norwegian University of Life Sciences finds potentially life-threatening levels of arsenic around Barrick Gold’s North Mara mine in Tanzania. “If nothing is done the environment will be destroyed. It has already become heavily polluted by arsenic, cobalt and other heavy metals,” says Evans Rubara of the Christian Council of Tanzania, one of the organizations that commissioned the report.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Des organisations non gouvernementales congolaises et internationales saluent aujourd’hui la publication de l’examen des contrats miniers par le gouvernement de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) et demandent à ce dernier de veiller à ce que la renégociation des contrats se déroule ouvertement et de manière équitable.

Friday, November 28, 2008

The Congolese government’s ‘fast track solution’ to its mining contract review may turn out to be a false trail unless it addresses civil society concerns, warns a coalition of Congolese and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) today [1].