International Organizations Recommending RA Government to Annul All Permits and Licenses for Amulsar Gold Mine

International Organizations  Recommending RA Government to Annul All Permits and Licenses for Amulsar Gold Mine

The authors of “Amulsar: Human Rights Violations and Environmental Negligence in the Search for Gold” report are recommending the Armenian Government to revoke all the permits existing for Amulsar gold mining project. The report was compiled by the International Federation for Human Rights, CEE Bankwatch Network and the Civil Society Institute. The presentation of the repot was held in Yerevan on 28 June.

The report concludes that there is abundant evidence of serious violations of a wide range of rights in the development of the Amulsar gold mine, from substantive and procedural environmental rights to social, economic and political rights of affected individuals and communities. Moreover, there are examples of significant barriers to justice and remedy for rights holders, who have sought redress through judicial and non-judicial mechanisms without success thus far. There is strong evidence that the Armenian state has on numerous occasions breached its obligations under international law to protect and uphold the human rights to health and to a healthy environment, to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech, information, participation in decision-making, and access to justice. Although the majority of these human rights violations were committed by the state before the Velvet Revolution of 2018, unfortunately, the new government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has not taken decisive steps to protect environmental and human rights defenders and the rights of people in local communities, nor to redress past violations.

In this regard, reports from UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights and the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee have called on the Armenian State to ensure meaningful consultations on the Amulsar project. In addition, the UN Human Rights Committee’s report on Armenia from 2020 makes recommendations to Armenia with regard to civil and political rights and anti-corruption measures, and requests that the state ‘provide detailed information on allegations of corruption concerning the Amulsar gold mine’.

The report contains a number of recommendations to the RA government, the international financial institutions that invested in the Amulsar project, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), as well as the Lydian Armenia company.

These recommendations are as follows:

The Armenian Government should:

• revoke all existing permits for the Amulsar gold mine project;

• take immediate steps to address the recommendations published by UN human rights bodies and special procedures, the Compliance Committee of the UNECE Aarhus Convention on environmental governance and the Bureau of the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention on protection of biodiversity;

• initiate an independent expert assessment of the costs and benefits of the Amulsar gold mine, thoroughly taking into consideration economic, social, health and environmental factors, then take this assessment into account to ensure that negative impacts are duly identified and prevented and that local populations and communities may directly benefit from the project if it is finally pursued; • overhaul its environmental and mining legislation to ensure democratic and prudent governance of the mining sector and adopt regulations and enhance institutional capacity to properly assess the social and health impacts of mining;

• reinforce institutional capacity to implement and monitor the respect for legislation, improve access to information and participation, clarify methodologies for decision makers to conduct cost-benefit assessments, simplify the procedure for conducting cumulative impact assessments and implement robust anti-corruption policies and processes relating to mining;

• protect environmental and human rights defenders, specifically from strategic litigation against public participation lawsuits (SLAPPs) and retaliation from Lydian or other actors.

• improve the impact of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) process at the community level by promoting the participation of local communities in the governance of natural resources;

• ensure proper remedy for the negative impacts caused by the mine to local communities, human rights defenders and the environment throughout the previous phases of the project;

• conduct an independent and transparent investigation into the corruption surrounding the land acquisition in Gndevaz.

2. The EBRD and the IFC should:

• support the Armenian government in implementing the above steps and

update their environmental and human rights due diligence approach in view of the anticipated findings and recommendations of the banks’ accountability mechanisms;

• develop human rights and environmental due diligence policies in order to better comply with the UN’s guiding principles; •

 acknowledge and address the existing gaps and barriers to participation and effective redress for project-affected persons and human rights defenders in their approach to disclosing information, and involve communities and stakeholders in informed and meaningful consultation;

• provide meaningful public participation – which is timely, a two-way process, transparent, accessible and safe – to all rights-holders; ensure that proper procedures are in place and implement regular capacity building and evaluations of procedures to ensure they allow for safe and meaningful public participation. The banks should also develop more concrete guidance reflecting a zero-tolerance policy on reprisals.

• along with Lydian, provide remedy for the negative impacts caused by the Amulsar project to local communities, human rights defenders and the environment throughout the previous phases of the project.

Lydian Armenia should:

• drop all legal actions against environmental and human rights defenders and avoid stigmatisation through antagonistic rhetoric or by spreading misinformation to discredit the activities of defenders;

• take immediate steps to ensure it respects all human rights and the environment, and abide by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights;

• immediately provide remedy for the negative impacts it caused to local communities, human rights defenders and the environment throughout the previous phases of the project

July 07, 2022 at 15:32