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AngloGold Ashanti has agreed to pay damages to the communities of Area One who were forcibly evicted from their land for the gold mine’s expansion in 2015. This is the first such victory in Guinea.
In the wake of the violence, local and international civil society organizations mobilized to support the communities who had been violently forced to move from their land in 2015 for the expansion of the Siguiri gold mine project, operated by a Guinea-based subsidiary of AngloGold Ashanti.
Watch the video : Securing Justice for Forced Displacement from the Siguiri Gold Mine
A minefield journey since the eviction
When we began our struggle, nobody believed we would get anything from this company and we were told to give up, but we persisted and today we can hold our heads high again”, said Balla Camara, the courageous community leader of Area One who dared to call for accountability.
Guinea is a politically unstable country with a hostile environment for human rights defenders, and a repressive government most often opting to protect the interests of mining companies, such as AngloGold Ashanti, the country’s leading gold producer, rather than the people.
Established in the Siguiri region for more than 800 years, these 365 families – artisanal miners, traders and farmers – were violently evicted and arbitrarily arrested by the State security forces. They were then made to seek temporary lodging elsewhere for years, and finally resettled while still seeing their health, education and livelihoods in danger. Many other violations of national and international law occurred, but little hope for justice were provided. Avenues for legal recourse in Guinea are nearly nonexistent with a poorly functioning judiciary in a country rife with corruption.
Following the money and tireless community solidarity, keys to victory
The evicted communities sought the advice of local NGO Commerce International pour le Développement (CECIDE), who had long been supporting the human rights of communities in the Siguiri area.
CECIDE mobilized its network including local lawyers at Mêmes Droits Pour Tous (MDT) and international partners, including Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA) and The 11th Hour Project. With little possibility of legal redress in Guinea, Inclusive Development International (IDI) was brought in to follow the money that paid for the gold mine’s expansion: AngloGold Ashanti received a loan from the South African bank Nedbank, which in turn had received financing from the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Watch the video : Beneath the Surface: Leveraging the Power of Investors
This meant the IFC’s environmental and social performance standards applied to the Siguiri mine’s expansion. It opened the door for the affected communities, with support from CECIDE, MDT and IDI, to file a complaint in April 2017 to the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) of the World Bank Group. The CAO is the independent accountability mechanism for projects supported by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
The community’s complaint to the CAO led to a six-year long mediation process among the company and affected communities, with support from the NGOs, leading to a series of incremental wins and now a final settlement agreement.
This struggle for accountability is the product of years of hard work, dedication and persistence by local human rights defenders, continuously strengthening community solidarity, working to mobilize for rights in a hostile environment.
A victory that restores hope
Guinea is well known for its abundance of natural resources. The country has one of the world’s largest reserves of bauxite. This is the main material used to produce aluminum, a transition mineral important to moving away from fossil fuels. Mega mining projects are being initiated with the aim of boosting the country’s economy, such as the Simandou project for its so-called green steel. However, the promises of development often fail to be realized for the thousands of people living from the land’s resources sacrificed for these projects. Communities are very often forced to leave their homes either because they are forced out by the authorities, without any real resettlement or compensation, or driven away because the pollution caused by the projects threatens their health and livelihoods.
The Area One settlement agreement is an exceptional victory and a source of hope for the thousands of people who suffer the damages of investment projects in Guinea every day. Community tenacity over many years – despite threats and intimidation from government and the company – made this possible,” said Lien De Brouckere, advisor with The 11th Hour Project since the start of this campaign, including the fact-finding mission in 2016 that laid the basis for the CAO complaint.
A part of the agreement’s significant financial settlement amount will be directly given to the affected families as individual compensation, and another part will be used to set up a fund to finance development and livelihood restoration projects implemented by the affected families.