The Barrick Files 1
BOTH
ENDS
FRIENDS
OF THE EARTH NETHERLANDS
LETTER
TO BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION
Mr
Peter Munk, Chairman
Barrick
Gold Corporation
Royal
Bank Plaza -Suite 2700
Toronto
Canada
M5J 2J3
18th
July 2001
Dear
Mr Munk,
When
investigative journalist Greg Palast reported in the Observer of London on the
alleged involvement of a Barrick Gold Corporation subsidiary in the killing of
50 mine workers to clear their mining concession, your company choose to sue the
Guardian newspapers, which own the Observer, for libel and to prepare action
against Mr Palast and Tanzanian human rights lawyer Mr Tundu Lissu.
Palast
quotes an 1997 Amnesty International Annual Report on the killing. The report
states: "In August, over 50 gold-miners were killed in what may have been
extra judicial executions during evictions from disputed land in an operation
involving the police, regional authorities in Shinyanga and a Canadian mining
company. The men were buried alive when the Canadian company, guarded by police,
bulldozed small-scale mines in Bulyanhulu, despite on-the-spot appeals from
distraught villagers, in advance of the company taking possession of the land
for industrial mining. The regional authorities authorized the bulldozing 12
hours after a court order halting evictions pending further investigations was
announced over the radio. The end of the year and criminal investigations
appeared to be discontinued had not recovered the bodies. "
Barrick
purchased the mine’s owner, Kahama Mining, in 1999. While survivors and
eye-witnesses allege that deaths occurred, Barrick insists that: "... The
national and local government have investigated, KMCL has investigated and AI
[Amnesty International] has investigated and the conclusions have been the same
– no one was killed in the course of the peaceful removal of artisan miners by
the Government of Tanzania from the Bulyanhulu site in 1996." Barrick cites
Amnesty International Annual Report 2000, which further reported on the alleged
killings at Bulyanhulu, in support of its position.
Barrick’s
assertion that Amnesty International has conducted an investigation and reached
a conclusion that no one was killed and the land cleared peacefully is not, in
our view, supported in statements in Amnesty’s 2000 report and appears in
conflict with eye witness reports, press reports and other accounts.
The
Amnesty 2000 report states: "In April the government replied to Amnesty
International's 1998 memorandum about the alleged deaths of small-scale
gold-miners in Bulyanhulu in Shinyanga region in 1996.
The government denied there had been any deaths and rejected AI's call to
open an independent judicial inquiry. AI
maintained its criticism of local officials who had violated a court injunction
by ordering the mines be filled, but it was unable to substantiate the
allegations of deaths."
We
fail to understand how, on any reasonable reading, this statement could be
interpreted as a categorical denial that the killings took place. The most that
can be inferred from it is that for not stated reasons (which could include the
absence of an investigation) Amnesty (and Amnesty alone) has been unable to
substantiate the allegations. As such the statement implicitly acknowledges the
possibility that other groups might succeed in substantiating the allegations
were Amnesty did not succeed.
It
is important to note that after it purchased the mine, Barrick sought and
received a large World Bank loan to operate the mine. The Bank’s rules bar
funding for project sites cleared by coercion or violence.
Your
company’s attempt to stop the reporting by Mr Palast may have a devastating
effect on further investigation of the events in Tanzania and on those
researching and publishing on the matter.
Legal
threats will not help bring truth to light. We urge you to help clarify the
situation and request you to ensure that Barrick Gold Corporation engages in an
open discussion about this tragic matter. We wish to inform you that a copy of
this letter and documents pertaining to the alleged Bulyanhulu killings will be
shared with the Permanent Committees on Foreign Affairs and Human Rights and
Development and Cooperation of the European Parliament, the Governments of the
Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, the United States and Canadian CIDA and the
World Bank, with a request to conduct new inquiries in this matter.
Yours
sincerely,
Sjef
Langeveld, Director
Both ENDS
Paul de Clerck, Director Campaigns Friends of the Earth Netherlands
Statement of a survivor of the alleged burial in Tanzania
Exporting Corporate Control: Greg Balast vs. Barrick Gold Corp.
Signatories:
Hon.
Francesco Martone
Senator
Green
Party
Italy
Hans
Engelberts
General
Secretary
Public
Services International
45,
avenue Voltaire
BP
9
01211
Ferney-Voltaire Cedex
France
Owen
J. Lynch
Senior
Attorney
Center
for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
1367
Connecticut Avenue Northwest
Washington,
DC 20036 USA
Professor
Stuart Weir
Human
Rights Centre
University
of Essex
United
Kingdom
Jennifer
Kalafut
Center
for Environmental Public Advocacy (CEPA)
Friends
of the Earth - Slovakia
Slovakia
Nicholas
Hildyard
The
Cornerhouse
Station
Road
Sturminster
Newton
Dorset
DT 10 1BB
United
Kingdom
Henning
Grobe
EartLink
e.V. - The people & nature network
Frohschammerstr.
14
D
- 80 807 Munchen
Germany
Nancy
Alexander
Globalization Challenge Initiative
7000-B Carroll Avenue
Takoma Park
MD
20912
Weltwirtschaft,
Ökologie & Entwicklung (WEED)
(World
Economy, Ecology & Development)
c/o
Antje Schultheis
Am
Köllnischen Park 1
10179
Berlin
Germany
Jutta
Kill
Fern
Belgium
Raihan
Khalid
Abu Raihan Muhammed Khalid
28, Bredel House
St. Paul's Way
London E14 7AS
United Kingdom
Wytze
de Lange
X
min Y Foundation
The
Netherlands
Emily
J. Yozell
Apartado
7723-1000
San
Jose, COSTA RICA
Michel
Vanhoorne
Professor of Occupational and Environmental Health
University of Gent
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Hey
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Hyattsville,
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Yong
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I. Ellis
Hampton
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Arbogast
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Franklin
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Horowitz
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Davis
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M Reeves
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Good
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Carr
Down
to Earth
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Mick
Gosling
Chair
Press and PR Branch NUJ
Max
Kennerly
Yale
University
USA
Marc
Dufour,
Ottawa,
ON
Canada.
Chris
Smitskamp
Green
Left Party - Delft
The
Netherlands
Barbara
Good
Scranton, PA
Jacek
Bozek
President
Stowarzyszenie
Ekologiczno-Kulturalne 'Klub Gaja'
Poland
Ruth
Rosenhek
Rainforest
Information Centre
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EYFA,
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Luis
Bredow
Revista
FORO
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Frank
Rosen
Robert
Newman uk
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Richter
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Lani
Frank
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Robert
Madison
Mary
Petersdorf
Tucson,
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A.
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van Loenen
Jim
Gray
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Scarlett MccGwire
Mark
Thomas
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Willem van Leenhof
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Antje
Schultheis
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SPIRALS
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Wright
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Ann Simon
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Sleboda
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Scheel
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Vincent
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Hengst
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Sutton
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