Citizen groups in Burkina Faso are urging the country’s government to
increase payments to mining areas producing gold to help communities
get basic services like clean water, better roads, schools, and
hospitals.
“In the locations where gold is exploited, paradoxically people in
these areas are very poor,” says Pierre Dabire, coordinator of the Publish What You Pay coalition in Burkina Faso that is advocating for more transparent management of gold mining revenues. “We’re fighting to get their dignity back.”
Campaigners in Burkina Faso say gold is now Burkina Faso’s most
valuable export, but not enough of the revenue it brings in is being
used to fight poverty. Civil
society organizations are urging the country’s transitional Parliament
to increase payments made to communities for local development projects
from 0.5 percent to 1 percent of mining revenues when they vote on a new
mining code in the end of May.
Mining companies operating in the country have opposed even this minimal 0.5 percent increase. The
civil society campaign, supported by Oxfam in collaboration with the
Publish What You Pay Coalition, was urging the Parliament to rewrite the
mining code in October of 2014 when protests led to the overthrow of
President Blaise Compaore. The parliament vote on the mining code was
postponed.
In preparation for the vote, in late April members of a transitional
Parliament now governing the country visited mining areas in Seno
province and Inata in the Sahel region, as well as Sabce (Center North
area) near the Niger and Mali borders. Communities in these areas are
among the poorest in Burkina and most lack basic services. Community
members, many of whom are nomadic peoples, struggle to sustain
themselves by agriculture and small-scale mining. Citing “persisting
tensions” in mining areas, the Parliament’s Social Affairs and
Sustainable Development Chairman Asseghna Somda says communities in
these areas have legitimate concerns. “We’ve been receiving complaints
from the mining sites…the new mining code could attract new companies
but we don’t have the right to overlook the interests of our people.”
“Gold must shine for everyone”
Campaigning under the #Juste1pourcent (“just one percent”) and #MinesAlert Twitter hashtags, the coalition campaign
has also been running television, radio, and newspaper advertisements
to build support for the increase in revenues for local development in
gold producing areas.
Burkina Faso is currently the fourth largest producer of gold in Africa
(behind South Africa, Ghana, and Mali) and has issued 668 mining
exploration permits. The country brought in $390 million in 2013 from
eight active mining sites. Meanwhile, it is one of the poorest
countries in West Africa: 47 percent of its citizens live in poverty;
average income there is about $750 per year.
Oxfam’s support for the #Juste1pourcent campaign in Burkina is part
of its global program to help communities affected by oil, gas, and
mining projects to defend their basic rights to benefit from natural
resource wealth.
Oxfam is working with organizations across West Africa to urge
governments to establish a regional mining code to standardize social
and environmental standards that will protect the rights of people
affected by gold mining.
The transitional Parliament in Burkina Faso is under pressure to
promote investment in the country, and has in the past been criticized
by civil society groups for being pushed by business interests into
postponing votes on the mining code. After the transitional Parliament
visited the mining areas in April, campaigners hope they will be more
inclined to be on the side of communities, and comments from members of
parliament indicate they are aware of community concerns. “It will be
wiser for the mining companies to consider the aspirations and claims
from the population,” says Bazyé Jean-Hubert, a member of Parliament.
“We want resources retrieved from our soils to benefit our countrymen.”
“Getting this code passed by the transitional Parliament will be a
victory of the whole civil society that has come together to defend the
rights of our people,” says Jonas Hien, president of the Organization
for Community Capacity Building for Development (ORCADE), one of Oxfam’s
partners participating in the campaign. “As we say in one of our
slogans, ‘gold must shine for everyone.’”
Author : Chris Hufstader
Source : Oxfamamerica
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