From MiningWatch.ca

Barrick Ignores UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Recommendation Regarding Papua New Guinea Rapes

Monday, October 28, 2013

News release: Barrick Gold is thumbing its nose at a recommendation by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 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. 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. 

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For more information contact: Catherine Coumans, (613) 569-3439, catherine(at)miningwatch.ca 

For background information see the OHCHR opinion and MiningWatch Canada's response letter of September 4, 2013

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From MiningWatch.ca

Rape Victims Must Sign Away Rights to Get Remedy from Barrick

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

MiningWatch Canada - Rights & Accountability in Development - EarthRights International

Ottawa - Washington, D.C. - Oxford - January 30, 2013. Following years of denial, Barrick Gold is implementing a remedy program for victims of rape by employees of its Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

In order to receive a remedy package, women must enter into an agreement in which "the claimant agrees that she will not pursue or participate in any legal action against PJV, PRFA [Porgera Remediation Framework Association Inc.] or Barrick in or outside of PNG. PRFA and Barrick will be able to rely on the agreement as a bar to any legal proceedings which may be brought by the claimant in breach of the agreement."

Included in the remedy options offered to women are "access to phychosocial/trauma counseling" and "access to health care." "We do not believe women should have to sign away rights to possible future legal action in order to access the types of remedy Barrick is offering these victims of rape and gang rape," says Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada, "this requirement is not best practice in cases of non-judicial remedy."

"We are also concerned that Barrick is not offering remedy to those women who have been raped and gang raped by members of police Mobile Squads who are being housed, fed and supported by PJV on PJV property," says Tricia Feeney, Executive Director of Rights & Accountability in Development.

"Barrick appears to be rushing women through the claims process," says Rick Herz, Litigation Coordinator for EarthRights International, which has brought several transnational lawsuits in U.S. courts against extractive companies for similar abuses. "Women should not be coerced into giving up their legal rights and, at a minimum, Barrick should allow women to keep the remedial offers made to them open long enough for them to seek legal counsel and evaluate their options."

MiningWatch Canada, Rights & Accountability in Development and EarthRights International are currently engaged in mediated discussions with Barrick Gold as a result of a complaint filed with the Canadian National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines. The information and related documents provided in this release were obtained outside of that process.

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For more information contact:

Catherine Coumans, MiningWatch Canada, (+1) 613-569-3439,  catherine@miningwatch.ca

Patricia Feeney, Rights & Accountability in Development, (+44) (0) 1865-436-245, tricia.feeney@raid-uk.org

Rick Herz, Litigation Coordinator for EarthRights International, (+1) 860-233-4938, rick@earthrights.org

Related Documents

Background Brief - Concerns regarding the Remediation Framework for women victims of sexual violence by Porgera Joint Venture security guards. January 29, 2013.

A Framework of Remediation Initiatives in Response to Violence Against Women in the Porgera Valley

OECD Complaint Against Barrick's Porgera Operations

Legal Brief before the Standing Committee on the Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE) of the House of Commons by the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law. November 16, 2009.