VIDEO: Indigenous Resistance to Gold Mining
Someone Else’s Treasure: Indigenous Resistance from allan lissner on Vimeo.
Indigenous leaders from Chile, Papua New Guinea, and Australia, traveled great distances to speak at the annual shareholders’ meeting of Barrick Gold — the world’s largest gold mining corporation — and voice their complaints about Barrick’s operations on their ancestral lands.
Complaints include the killing, rape, and arbitrary detention of villagers in Papua New Guinea, the destruction of spiritual sites in Australia, and the theft of indigenous lands in Chile.
Affected communities are calling on all Canadians to reject the harms done by Canadian mining companies and become active in pressuring Canadian companies to respect international human rights and environmental standards.
Speakers:
Sergio Campusano is the President of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos Indigenous and Agricultural Community. Since he assumed the role of president, Sergio has been fighting against the greed of the mining corporations and the local agriculture companies in order to mantain the rights of his people.
Native to the rocky highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Jethro Tulin is a popular organiser and founder of the Akali Tange Association (ATA), a human rights organization documenting abuses at the Porgera mine, owned by Torontos Barrick Gold.
Neville “Chappy” Williams, Wiradjuri elder and spokesperson for Mooka and Kalara United Families, the traditional owners of the Lake Cowal area in NSW Australia.
Indigenous Resistance to Gold Mining
Jethro Tulin’s Statement at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Jethro Tulin, Executive Officer of Akali Tange Association (Porgera, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea), presented his statement to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues yesterday. The following is his full statement:
Jethro Tulin at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Eighth Session
Intervention by: Jethro Tulin, Executive Officer of Akali Tange Association (Porgera, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea)
Supported by: Asia Caucus, Pacific Caucus, Western Shoshone Defense Project (Nevada, USA), Peoples Earth, Society for Threatened Peoples International (ECOSOC), Indigenous Peoples Link
Item 4: Human Rights
New York, May 27, 2009.
Madam Chair, this is my second time at this UN forum, and today my message is more urgent than before. In my homeland in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, the Ipili and Engan people have seen their traditions turned upside-down by the influence of a large-scale mining project. In one generation, the mine has brought militarization, corruption, and environmental devastation to a land that previously knew only subsistence farming and alluvial mining.
Last year, I explained that mine guards and police were killing locals and raping our women; there have been five more killings and many more rapes since. Last year, I described how our food sources were threatened by mine waste dumped directly into the river system and how my people were exposed to dangerous chemicals like cyanide and mercury; today, those practices continue. Last year, I complained that the mine is directly next to our homes; and just three weeks ago, the Papua New Guinea government, motivated by reports presented by the mining company, unleashed “State of Emergency,” a police and military operation that saw hundreds of homes of indigenous land owners surrounding the open pit mine razed to the ground.
This is a textbook case of what can go wrong when large-scale mining confronts Indigenous Peoples, ignoring the impacts of its projects and resorting to goon squads when people rebel against it..
The increasing global power and influence of trans-national companies like the Canadian Barrick Gold, managers of the Porgera mine means that they, alongside the PNG government, must be responsible for upholding human rights within their spheres of influence.
The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the National Goals and Directive Principal that underlie the PNG constitution codify, not only the moral responsibility to uphold rights of affected Indigenous Peoples in PNG, but also is increasingly seen as implying their legal liability as organs of society to respect, promote and secure human rights.
In addition to wreaking havoc on local communities, these mines pollute vital water sources and require an immense amount of energy to run. The Porgera mine alone produces over 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases and consumes over 7 billion gallons of water a year, which it continually dumps – polluted – into a 800 km-long river system, eventually leading to the Gulf of Papua and reaching the Great Barrier Reef. In a time of impending climate change, this environmental devastation affects us all.
We recommend that the Permanent Forum:
1. Urge the Permanent Forum to write urgently to the Government of Papua New Guinea and Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada appealing for an urgent halt to the State of Emergency and the destruction of peoples homes.
2. Endorse the recommendations put forth in the report of the expert group meeting on extractive industries, Indigenous Peoples’ rights and corporate social responsibility, which met in March 2009 in Manila, Philippines;
3. Calls for activation of the World Bank 2005 Extractive Industries Review and for activation of the previous interventions to address the impact and legacy of extractive industries on Indigenous Lands, territories and natural resources;
4. Investigates how to set up an Indigenous arbitration system, a regulatory regime, to control the practices of the trans-national mining companies, other extractive industries, forestry and fisheries;
5. Forms an agency to evaluate the amount Indigenous communities involuntarily subsidize the mining industry and other extractive industries through their natural resources, which are seized with minimal compensation, if any, by forms of colonialism perpetrated by trans-national companies;
Thank you.
Jethro Tulin, Akali Tange Association Inc.
Porgera Enga Province, Papua New Guinea
May 27, 2009
New York
Jethro Tulin at the United Nations
Indigenous Leaders confront Barrick Gold II: Official Statements
Indigenous leaders Jethro Tulin, from Papua New Guinea, and Sergio Campusano, from Chile, traveled to Canada this month to attend the April 29 shareholders’ meeting of Barrick Gold. Once inside the meeting they confronted Barrick about human rights abuses and environmental degradation on their lands.
Complaints included killings, rapes and the arbitrary detentions of local village people in the Papua New Guinea highlands by Barrick security guards, and the failure to consult the Diaguita Huascoaltinos Indigenous community, who hold title to the land of that proposed mine, as well as other areas that Barrick is exploring.
The following are the full statements prepared by Jethro Tulin and Sergio Campusano, which they read out to the shareholders at Barrick’s annual general meeting:
Jethro Tulin, Executive Officer of the Akali Tange Association, a volunteer-run human rights organization in Papua New Guinea, “Barrick’s Porgera Mine is a textbook case of what can go wrong when large-scale mining confronts indigenous peoples, ignoring the impacts of its projects and resorting to goon squads when people rebel against it. This outrages the conscience of local Indigenous communities, especially when the mine is right next to our homes; my people are exposed to dangerous chemicals like cyanide and mercury; some of our people drown in the tailings and waste during floods; and fishing stocks, flora and fauna are depleted down the river systems, leading to indigenous food sources being threatened.”
STATEMENT: Jethro Tulin’s testimony read to Barrick shareholders at their 2009 Annual General Meeting
April 29th, 2009
My name is Jethro Tulin and I hold a proxy from Mr. David Wurfel.
Mr. Munk, I am an indigenous Ipili from the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. I have traveled half way across the world to speak out against the grave human rights and environmental conditions my people face because of your Porgera mine. I came to this meeting last year as well, telling your shareholders and Barrick’s Board of Directors about the situation in Porgera, but all questions from shareholders were censored from Barrick’s webcast of the meeting.
Since I spoke at this meeting last year, there have been 5 more killings of indigenous community members by your security guards and more women have been raped by your security guards. These issues are now being investigated by the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings at the United Nations.
The toxic waste you continue to dump into our 800 kilometer long river system (which would be illegal in Canada) has caused the Norwegian Government to divest its pension fund from more than 230 million Canadian dollars worth of shares in Barrick Gold and to report that its decision was based on its “assessment that investing in the company entails an unacceptable risk of the Fund contributing to serious environmental damage.”
Now, under the influence of your company, the Papua New Guinea government has imposed a virtual State of Emergency in Porgera. When I came to Canada last week I received reports from Porgera that landowners who have spoken out against your mine are now being targeted. This week, and while I am standing here before you, their houses are being burnt down and they are fleeing for fear of their life.
"When I came to Canada last week I received reports from Porgera that landowners who have spoken out against your mine are now being targeted. This week, and while I am standing here before you, their houses are being burnt down and they are fleeing for fear of their life." - Jethro Tulin
Days after your Annual Meeting last year I met with your Senior executives Peter Sinclair and Vince Borg, and a commitment was made to establish dialogue and find a way to address the issues. But this dialogue has never taken place. Instead the human rights and environmental abuses we have been suffering for many years have continued.
Mr. Munk, your mine has destroyed our land, our water, our safety and our ability to feed ourselves. We know that we can no longer live on our ancestral land. We know that we must leave our place so that our children can have a future. But rather than offer us fair terms for our relocation you are calling for military action and our houses and lands are being torched.
My questions for you, Mr. Munk, are on behalf of the Porgera Alliance, a coalition of human rights activists and Porgera landowners:
1. Will Barrick immediately call on the government of Papua New Guinea to stop the burning of houses and the threats against landowners being perpetrated by its mobile forces and platoons against Porgerans on your mine’s Special Mine Lease Area?
2. Will Barrick agree to move the more than 5,000 families who live within your mine lease area in a way that is fair and will provide us an opportunity to be healthy, to feed our families, and to educate our children?
3. Will Barrick finally pay fair compensation to the families who have lost their loved ones to the guns of your security forces, to the rape victims, to the families who have lost members in your open pit and in the waste dumps and who have drowned in your river of tailings?
4. Will Barrick finally carry out the recommendations of the 1996 CSIRO report and stop dumping mine waste into our river?
Jethro pumps his fist as he walks out of Barrick Gold's AGM where he addressed all the shareholders.
STATEMENT: Testimony of Sergio Campusano, prepared for Barrick Gold’s 2009 Annual General Meeting
“Barrick Gold says that they want to help the poor, but we don't want their helping hand, we want their hands off our mountains,” says Sergio Campusano, president of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos Indigenous and Agricultural community who are struggling against Barrick Gold’s Pascua Lama mine and other exploration in the area. Barrick recognized Campusano as the legitimate leader of the Huascoaltino community until he asked Barrick to leave the area. Now the corporation is promoting Diaguita from other areas as legitimate leaders who will provide consent to the project.
I am the elected president of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos in my second term. I am holding the proxy from Louise Constantine.
The Chilean part of the Pascua Lama gold mining mega-project is located on our ancestral land to which we have title. This was not taken into consideration in the series of negociations that approved this project in 2001.
This mega project initially included the removal of 3 glaciers that are part of the principle
fresh water reserves that feed the Huasco river. This generated strong public opposition opinion and a supposed change in the design of the project. In the latest assesment of the Chilean Environmental Authority the exectution of the project is conditioned on not affecting direct changes to the Toro I, Toro II, and Esperanza glaciers that are found on the Pascua Lama gold deposit. Despite having made this commitment, in 2005 the Chilean General Directorate of Water tested and proved that these three glaciers have shrunk by 50 to 70% as a direct result of Barrick’s actions. Barrick Gold has not been sanctioned as a result of this and continues to work in this zone.
Barrick Gold is preventing access to our community members their traditional land. Even when there is a public policy that prevents keeping the main road closed, this road is kept closed and permanently monitored by security guards.
After exhausting all the legal avenues in our country to oppose this project and prevent the usurpation of our lands and the consequent pollution of the Huasco Valley, in 2006 we decided to sue the State of Chile for the Pascua Lama project in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Now, Barrick Gold seeks to extend facilities to other parts of our territories including the top of the Chollay and Pachuy mountains, sectors which is currently conducting mining explorations.
"The Chilean part of the Pascua Lama gold mining mega-project is located on our ancestral land to which we have title. This was not taken into consideration in the series of negociations that approved this project in 2001." - Sergio Campusano
The image of this company has been tarnished by the harmful impacts on the environment and communities that it has generated around the world. As a way to improve its public image, it has the public face of Corporate Social Responsibility and Community Relations. According to these policies, Barrick Gold requires the approval of local communities, but our community, which are the legal owners of the land where the projects are located have not authorized the company to
perform their work because they do not respect the natural balance of our lands and the maintenance of our culture. This is why we have repeatedly expressed our rejection of the development of mega-mining in our territory.
As a result of this, the mining company Barrick Gold has for several years conducted a process of reinvention of ethnic Diaguita which is intended to make the public believe that they have the support of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos. In this process the company has brought outside professionals to conduct training on the Diaguita’s own ancestral traditions and has manipulated these teachings for their own convenience, inventing a nonexistent Diaguita culture and denying the ethnicity of our community. They have raised false leaders, who are now attending meetings with the company and appearing in Barrick’s newsletters, and have discredited our real leaders, creating irreconcilable divisions among our people and weakening our neighbors and community’s identity.
Questions:
1. How is it possible that Barrick claims to be environmentally responsible despite the study conducted by the Chilean Water Direction showing the glaciers were reduced by 70% as a result of your actions?
2. How can Barrick claim to be accountable to the Diaguita if the representatives that Barrick chooses to negotiate with are not the Senior elected Leaders of the Diaguita Community?
3. At what cost to humanity and our mother earth will Barrick Gold Corporation continue to destroy our culture and heritage for only one objective: making money
4. Have you ever asked yourself about what kind of damage are you doing to humanity and mother earth to be part of Barrick Gold Corporation?
Sergio Campusano holds up a copy of "Beyond Borders: A Barrick Gold Quarterly Report on Responsible Mining" which was handed out to shareholders at Barrick's AGM. "For several years", Sergio explains, "Barrick Gold has conducted the process of reinventing the Diaguita culture, which is intended to make the public believe that they have the support of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos. To this end, the company has brought in professionals from other parts of the country to conduct workshops on the 'traditional' Diaguita crafts, essentially inventing a nonexistent Diaguita culture and denying the ethnicity of our community. They have raised false leaders, who are now attending meetings with the company and the media, discrediting the real leaders of the community and creating irreconcilable divisions between community members and their neighbors.
For more information: www.ProtestBarrick.net
Indigenous Leaders confront Barrick Gold I
Indigenous leaders from Papua New Guinea and Chile traveled to Canada this week to attend the April 29 shareholders’ meeting of Barrick Gold. Where they confronted Barrick about human rights abuses and environmental degradation on their lands.
Jethro Tulin, from Papua New Guinea, speaks outside Barrick Gold's Anual General Meeting
Complaints include killings, rapes and arbitrary detentions of local village people in the Papua New Guinea highlands by Barrick security guards. For Barrick’s Pascua Lama project on the border of Chile and Argentina, Barrick failed to consult the Diaguita Huascoaltinos Indigenous community, who hold title to the land of that proposed mine, as well as other areas that Barrick is exploring.
Sergio Campusano (second from left), the elected leader of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos in Chile, speaking through a translator outside Barrick Gold's AGM
“Barrick Gold says that they want to help the poor, but we don’t want their helping hand, we want their hands off our mountains,” says Sergio Campusano, president of the Diaguita Huascoaltino Indigenous and Agricultural community who are struggling against Barrick Gold’s Pascua Lama mine and other exploration in the area. Barrick recognized Campusano as the legitimate leader of the Huascoaltino community until he asked Barrick to leave the area. Now the corporation is promoting Diaguita from other areas as legitimate leaders who will provide consent to the project.
In 2006, Sergio’s community lodged a complaint against the State of Chile for the Pascua Lama project in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Jethro Tulin, from Papua New Guinea, speaking outside Barrick Gold's AGM backed by over a dozen supporters who came out to show their solidarity with affected communities.
According to Jethro Tulin, Executive Officer of the Akali Tange Association, a human rights organization in Papua New Guinea, “Barrick’s Porgera Mine is a textbook case of what can go wrong when large-scale mining confronts indigenous peoples, ignoring the impacts of its projects and resorting to goon squads when people rebel against it. This outrages the conscience of local Indigenous communities, especially when the mine is right next to our homes; my people are exposed to dangerous chemicals like cyanide and mercury; some of our people drown in the tailings and waste during floods; and fishing stocks, flora and fauna are depleted down the river systems, leading to indigenous food sources being threatened.”
As Mr. Tulin traveled to Canada to attend Barrick’s AGM, the Papua New Guinea government sent 200 heavily armed troops to the Porgera area. This effective State of Emergency in Porgera was motivated by situation reports presented by Barrick (PNG) Limited, according to Laigap Porgera Member of Parliament Phillip Kikala. Reports and photos received from Porgera landowners this week testify that these troops have burnt down 80 houses in one village bordering the mine site and are now targeting houses in other nearby villages.
Jethro Tulin describes the destruction documented in recent photos of the ongoing violence at the Porgera Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea
“Barrick Gold and the Government of Papua New Guinea must immediately start to address the catastrophic problem in Porgera pro-actively rather than over reacting with high level security installations and branding it as a law and order problem. Calling a State of Emergency is not the right method to fix these extensive and irreversible damages, the ordinary people are already victims of what as gone wrong.”
Last year the Norwegian Pension Fund divested $230 million CAD from Barrick Gold for ethical concerns related to the Porgera Mine.
Jethro Tulin
Native to the rocky highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Jethro Tulin is a popular organiser and founder of the Akali Tange Association (ATA), a human rights organization documenting abuses at the Porgera mine, owned by Toronto’s Barrick Gold.
Jethro has been organizing within and outside the Barrick’s Porgera mine since its inception (then owned by Placer Dome. In 1989, he registered Porgera’s first mine workers union and became its first secretary. Years later, after spending time abroad and involved in other aspects of Papua New Guinea’s nascent union movement, Jethro returned to Porgera to find the situation with the mine and the surrounding villages had worsened dramatically. So, in 2003, he founded the ATA, which has operated in Porgera with an all-volunteer staff and material support from friends, victims’ relatives, and even local businessmen and officials.
here’s a good youtube clip of Jethro speaking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUY-ift-6ts
Sergio Campusano
Sergio Campusano is the President of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos Indigenous and Agricultural Community. Since he assumed the role of president, Sergio has been fighting against the greed of the mining corporations and the local agriculture companies in order to mantain the rights of his people. He has participated pressing charges in countless times even against the Chilean State and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He’s conscious they’re fighting not only to represent the living, but also the ancestral thought of preservation of the ecosystem for the entire world, for the children of us all. In this clear idea is impregnated the principles of AUTO-DESTINY, AUTONOMY, and the right of the indigenous peoples of AUTODETERMINATION.
He will be accompanied by Albadina Carmona Villegas, an elder of his community.
Both Sergio and Jethro got inside the Barrick AGM and were able to speak and raise their complaints directly to the company directors and shareholders.
While Jethro Tulin and Sergio Campusano were speaking to shareholders inside the AGM, more than twenty supporters were rallying outside the AGM to show their solidarity with the affected communities.
For more information on Sergio Campusano’s and Jethro Tulin’s trips to Canada:
For more on the social and environmental impacts of the global mining industry:
