AFRICA Rights and Resources Building Community Voice in the Mining Sector

The document examines the systemic marginalisation of African communities affected by mining, highlighting the gap between official policy and the reality of environmental degradation, forced relocation, and health hazards. It details specific tools for empowerment, such as community protocols in Kenya and Zimbabwe, paralegal interventions in Sierra Leone, and strategic litigation regarding silicosis in South Africa. The text emphasizes the disproportionate burden on women and the necessity of moving beyond narrow legal definitions of 'indigenous peoples' to protect all customary landholders through the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).

• Community protocols serve as legal empowerment tools that allow marginalised groups to document customary rules, territories, and aspirations to engage more effectively with governments and mining companies. In Zimbabwe's Marange and Arda Transau communities, this process helped challenge the government's imposition of a traditional leader and secured the protection of sacred sites and the replacement of cut-down baobab trees.
• In Lamu County, Kenya, the development of a community protocol by the 'Save Lamu' coalition helped unite diverse ethnic groups (including the Aweer, Sanye, Bajuni, Swahili, and Orma) to oppose the LAPSSET Corridor and a proposed coal power plant. The process provided data for an economic cost-benefit analysis that identified external costs previously unquantified by project proponents.
• Women in mining-affected African communities face a 'double exclusion' from decision-making: first through patriarchal community structures where they often lack direct access to land or leadership, and second through extractive project deals typically cut between corporations and male elites.
• Resource extraction imposes gendered costs on women, who are responsible for 70 to 80 percent of rural household food production. Environmental pollution forces women to walk further for safe water, increasing their risk of sexual harassment and violence, while occupational diseases like silicosis increase the burden of care on women and children.
• The principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is often restricted to 'indigenous peoples' in international standards, a definition that frequently excludes African rural communities due to different historical contexts of migration and colonial boundaries. However, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has linked FPIC to the protection of all local communities and their customary land rights.
• Community-based paralegals in Sierra Leone have successfully secured remedies for rural populations, such as forcing a diamond mining company in Mofuwe to fill mined-out pits and repair a bridge, and negotiating equitable lease agreements in the north of the country that protect sacred grounds and ensure profit sharing.
• In South Africa, strategic litigation is being used to hold 32 gold mining companies accountable for silicosis and tuberculosis. The 'Nkala' class action suit is supported by media campaigns and social mobilisation to highlight the 'hidden pandemic' of occupational lung disease and its impact on rural women who provide care for sick miners.
• Large-scale extractive projects often trigger 'frontier urbanisation' and social instability, including increased sexual violence and the disruption of traditional governance. In Madagascar's Moramanga, the opening of a nickel and cobalt mine was associated with an increase in armed break-ins and sexual violence.

APA

Natural Justice (2016). AFRICA Rights and Resources Building Community Voice in the Mining Sector. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Perspectives.pdf

Chicago

Natural Justice. AFRICA Rights and Resources Building Community Voice in the Mining Sector. 2016. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Perspectives.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Natural Justice |title=AFRICA Rights and Resources Building Community Voice in the Mining Sector |date=April 2016 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Perspectives.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{naturaljustice2016africa, author = {{Natural Justice}}, title = {{AFRICA Rights and Resources Building Community Voice in the Mining Sector}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, year = {2016}, month = apr, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Perspectives.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }