ICSID, the World Bank tribunal, accepted an ‘amicus curiae’ brief submitted in the arbitration between Romania and the mining company Gabriel Resources over a destructive gold mine proposal in western Transylvania. Such acceptance marks an opening for the tribunal to hear the perspectives of the people directly affected by the mining project. In this case however, the tribunal conditioned its admission; excluding all testimonials and legal arguments from the villagers of Roşia Montană as well as rejecting their request to participate in the hearings...

The amicus presented new facts about the constitutional, environmental, and human rights violations related to Gabriel Resources' efforts to build Europe's largest open-pit gold mine...

The amicus also included testimonials from property-owners of Roşia Montană...

The Tribunal also decided to exclude all legal arguments from the amicus brief...

"Although for now we are relieved the Tribunal agreed to accept some of our arguments, we are still pressing that all arguments will be taken into account and that local community voices are respected," added Cristinel Buzatu, legal adviser for Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe...

The case hearings are scheduled for December 2019 in Washington DC, at ICSID. Alburnus Maior, Greenpeace Romania, and ICDER invite the public to read the amicus to understand and further disseminate the perspectives and lived experiences of the locals from Roşia Montană...