"Balochistan’s Reko Diq copper mine: Mineral extraction must respect human rights and the environment", 19 August 2025

We, the undersigned civil society organisations, call on international financiers of the Reko Diq copper mine to urgently heed the warnings from civil society about the excessive risks associated with this project. Located in an intensely militarised region, where civic space is very closed and where reprisals against civil society actors have increased in recent months, this project risks exacerbating the insecurity of human rights defenders and contributing to environmental and social destruction.

... [A] long list of development finance institutions and export credit agencies have lined up to provide loans to the project developer, the Reko Diq Mining Company (RDMC – a subsidiary of Barrick Mining). This includes multilateral development banks, such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC – the World Bank’s private sector arm) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

... Given the current situation in Balochistan, that it would be impossible for the IFC and ADB to uphold the safeguards they have adopted against environmental and social risks, and their policies against reprisals and investing in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, if they proceed with their financing of RDMC.

... RDMC has ignored the presence of the Indigenous Baloch population in its Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), classifying the Baloch people as an “ethnic minority”. Under both ADB and IFC safeguards, the Baloch people meet the definition of Indigenous Peoples.

... Serious concerns have been raised, including by Pakistan’s Supreme Court, about Reko Diq’s potential exacerbation of water scarcity in Balochistan, and about outstanding harms from previous attempts to develop the site, including cyanide poisoning and health impacts.

... We therefore call on the IFC and ADB to pause all funding for RDMC until the...concerns have been addressed.