Standing with communities to hold Rio Tinto to account
The Human Rights Law Centre is working with communities in Bougainville to seek justice for the environmental devastation left by Rio Tinto’s Panguna mine. Together, we are calling for action so people can live safely on their land again.
The Human Rights Law Centre is working with communities in Bougainville to seek justice for the environmental devastation left by Rio Tinto’s Panguna mine. Together, we are calling for action so people can live safely on their land again.
Panguna was formerly one of the world’s largest copper and gold mines. During its operation, over a billion tonnes of mine waste tailings were released directly into the Jaba and Kawerong rivers. In 1989, an uprising by local people against this environmental destruction and inequities in the distribution of the mine’s profits forced the mine to stop operating and triggered a brutal decade-long civil war.
No clean-up has ever taken place. That’s why we’re working with communities to call on Rio Tinto to take responsibility for its legacy and commit to long-term solutions.
In 2021, in response to a human rights complaint brought by 156 local community members, represented by the Human Rights Law Centre, Rio Tinto agreed to fund an independent human rights and environmental impact assessment of the mine. But Rio Tinto has still not made any commitment to funding solutions beyond the impact assessment.
Meanwhile, local people are suffering from the devastating impacts of the mine. Villages are being flooded with mine waste, contaminating peoples’ water supplies. Mine infrastructure is crumbling, putting lives at risk.
The first phase of that impact assessment, focused on the most serious impacts and risks to communities, will report in the coming months.
In May 2024, shareholders gathered in Brisbane for Rio Tinto’s AGM. Thanks to the communities’ advocacy, they asked serious questions about what Rio Tinto intends to do in response to the impact assessment’s findings.
The mining giant must fund the clean-up and long-term solutions Bougainvilleans are calling for. Communities urgently need access to clean drinking water and stabilisation of the levees to stop the vast mounds of mine waste continuing to erode into the rivers. Children need to be able to walk to school without having to wade through treacherous areas of quicksand created by the mine waste.
The Human Rights Law Centre will continue working with communities to demand Rio Tinto takes responsibility for its legacy.
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Acknowledgement of Country
The Human Rights Law Centre acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands across Australia, including the lands of the Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung, Gadigal, Ngunnawal, Cammeraygal, Darug, Wadawurrung, Turrbal and Jagera people where we work from.
We pay our respect to Elders past and present. This land always was, and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land. Sovereignty has never been ceded.
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