Gov’t monitors mining communities

Government has developed tracking mechanisms to monitor conflicts in the mining communities.

Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, announced that the tracking mechanism was expected to inform government on conflict trends as well as evaluate strategies being implemented in such communities.

He added that the current exercise of the deployment by the National Security taskforce was to clamp down on illegal mining activities in some mining communities in the country.

He stressed that strict directives had been given to operators to carry out their operations in a manner that would not harm children, women and other vulnerable people in the society.

He noted that “to promote the social harmony required for development, companies need to promote active engagement and partnership with their communities”.

Alhaji Fuseini further said security and human right issues should also be part of extractive companies’ risk assessment of their projects right from the inception.

He indicated that “the issues in planning and execution of projects should therefore not be the result of external pressure from Government, civil society organizations, the threat of illegal suits, or any other source, but self-motivated”.

The Minister made the remark at the opening ceremony of a 2-day workshop themed, “A workable model for security and human rights in extractive industry” held at the Cleaver House in Accra.

The workshop was aimed at enhancing the understanding of the voluntary principles, as well as develops a workable implementation model for extractive companies.

The workshop, organized by Global Rights, Livelihood & Environment Ghana, gathered participants from communities affected by extractive activities such as mining, oil and gas companies as well as civil society organizations.

Speaking at the workshop, Abiodun Baiyewu-Teru, Country Director for the Global Rights, Nigeria Office, said participants would recognize the importance of promoting and protecting human rights throughout the world.

She said “through this dialogue, participants would develop Voluntary Principles (VPs) to guide companies in maintaining safety and security for their operations within the geographical area.

She hinted that participants after the workshop would also acknowledge the essence of VPs on the human rights in the extractive sector.