We love nice cars, jewellery and gadgets. I have a smartphone myself. These items contain minerals found in our country. Often mined in inhuman conditions by young children, victims of intimidation and sexual violence. When you drive your electric car, when you use your smart phone or admire your jewellery, take a minute to reflect on the human cost of manufacturing these objects. As consumers, let us at least insist that these products are manufactured with respect for human dignity.

Doctor Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech

Oil, gas and mining have the potential to generate significant revenues for resource-rich countries, and to provide the energy and resources needed to fuel development and economic growth. However, companies in this sector have long faced accusations of involvement in serious human rights abuses. The Resource Centre has tracked more than 1,000 allegations of abuse in this sector over the past 15 years. These include displacement of communities, impacts on land, water, and housing, environmental pollution, denial of freedom of expression and association, child labour, and killings and other attacks on human rights defenders, among others. In light of this track record, some companies and industry associations have developed leading practices and multi-stakeholder initiatives to address human rights abuses in their operations and supply chains.

This section tracks the human rights impacts of the extractive industries, and industry-specific initiatives to improve companies’ human rights practices.

In this page, learn more about:

How the Mining and Oil, gas & coal industries are responding to the COVID-19 global pandemic
The Pacific Business & Human Rights portal, including latest news, case studies and findings relating to mining in the Pacific region
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre's Transition Minerals Tracker
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s Ugandan Oil Industry Mapping
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s analysis of banks and investment firms financing extractives projects in Southern Africa
The Corporate Human Rights Benchmark’s ranking of the world’s biggest extractives companies
Industry initiatives such as the International Council on Mining & Metals
Recent developments in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

Featured contents

Transition Minerals Tracker

Tracking the human rights implications of the mineral boom powering the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Mapping of companies involved in the Ugandan oil sector

Online hub mapping the companies involved in the Ugandan oil sector, from upstream producers, to the construction companies that support them, to the banks that finance them. Collaboration with Buliisa Initiative for Rural Development Organisation (BIRUDO)

Financing mining projects in Southern Africa

A study of the human rights commitments and actions of 30 banks, investment firms, and investment branches of mining companies financing extractives projects in Southern Africa.