‘South Africa: Mining gathering must confront human rights violations’ 3 February 2020

Mining companies and their stakeholders, including investors, governments and politicians, must confront the human rights abuses that are rife in the industry, Amnesty International said today, as the world’s biggest mining investment conference begins in Cape Town. Known as Mining Indaba, the conference brings together investors from around the world to discuss mining interests in Africa.

“From child labour in the Democratic Republic of Congo to squalid living conditions for workers at South Africa’s Marikana mine, the mining industry is tainted with human rights abuses. Mining firms have often caused or contributed to human rights abuses in pursuit of profit while governments have been too weak in regulating them effectively,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.

“For too long mining giants have been getting away with pollution, forced evictions, lack of transparency over how mining rights are awarded, corruption, tax evasion and abusive transfer pricing. These issues must be at the forefront of discussions in Cape Town.” Amnesty International and its partner organizations have documented numerous cases of human rights abuses linked to mining operations. In South Africa, victims of the bloody tragedy at Marikana, in which 34 protesters were killed and at least 70 injured by members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) during a mining strike in August 2012, are still awaiting justice almost eight years on.