In Search of Justice: Pathways to Remedy at the Porgera Gold Mine

September 14, 2018

Margaret Jungk

Former Managing Director, Human Rights, BSR
Ouida Chichester

Director, Energy, Extractives, Transport, and Industrials, BSR
Ouida Chichester

Director, Energy, Extractives, Transport, and Industrials, BSR

San Francisco

Ouida leads BSR’s Energy and Extractives practice. She applies her experience in international development to her work at BSR, where she advises global corporations across industries, but particularly extractives companies, on human rights; sustainable communities; inclusive economy; diversity, equity and inclusion; and women’s empowerment.

She also previously supported BSR's HERproject.

Prior to joining BSR, Ouida worked with the United Nations Development Programme in Belize, where she developed and contributed to projects on water governance, gender equality, and disability rights. She also has worked at Community Partners International, a nonprofit dedicated to the well-being of the people of Myanmar. Ouida helped build New Global Citizens, an organization dedicated to engaging U.S. youth in global philanthropy and activism. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador, she worked closely with youth, women, and grassroots organizations. She is fluent in Spanish.

As a Rotary World Peace Fellow, Ouida obtained an M.A. in International Relations from the Universidad del Salvador. She also holds a B.A. in International Relations from Mount Holyoke College.

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Full Bio
Chris Fletcher

Former Associate, BSR

BSR’s report, In Search of Justice: Pathways to Remedy at the Porgera Gold Mine, explores how to provide remedy for persons harmed at or around the Porgera Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea. It describes existing remedy mechanisms, identifies barriers to access, and issues recommendations for improving access to remedy. The overall purpose of this report is to help rightsholders in Porgera receive effective remedy for harms they have endured in relation to the mine’s operations.

While this report and recommendations were commissioned by Barrick Gold Corp. (Barrick) and its partially owned subsidiary, Barrick (Niugini) Limited (BNL), BSR has maintained full, independent control over the research and conclusions. The recommendations were developed as part of a year-long process of research and engagement with local, national, and international stakeholders.

We hope that the recommendations this report provides can serve as the basis for constructive dialogue among communities, Papua New Guinea’s government, other interested stakeholders, and the mine owners and operator. The recommendations outlined in this report and the issues raised and discussed draw upon international human rights principles and are grounded in a human rights-based approach.

The next and most important step will be for the mine to engage in dialogue with the community and work toward an agreeable and viable action plan. With these recommendations, BSR is providing general guidance. This document is intended as a road map for the difficult and necessary work that remains. The path forward should entail a collaborative process that involves the mine and the community—and, where appropriate, the PNG government. The report’s recommendations are designed to serve as the basis for a new dynamic in Porgera, one in which the benefits of the mine are more equitably distributed and human rights are promoted and enhanced, not undermined.

10 Key Recommendations

Kisim tok pisin liklik ripot hia

Address Current Harms
	Reform the Company Operational Grievance Mechanism in line with the UN Guiding Principles and with direct community consultation.
	Enter into a dialogue with the 119 women who underwent the Porgera Remedy Mechanism to ascertain and address their remaining needs to achieve full restoration.

Strengthen Existing Remedy Mechanisms
	Establish a free Victim Advocates’ Office to serve as an entry point for victims, providing information and helping them access appropriate pathways to remedy.
	Build the capacity of victims’ representative organizations in Porgera to raise awareness of human rights and to genuinely represent the needs of victims.
	Address barriers to existing remedy pathways in Porgera, focusing on those pathways that are most vital and utilized by victims of the mine’s operations.
	Expand the mandate for Barrick’s Independent Observer to cover all human rights harms and institutionalize the position so its formal powers will extend past the current officeholder.
	Support the creation of a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) or the extension of the Human Rights Ombudsman mandate to address private sector-related impacts on human rights.

Prevent Future Violations
	Address gender-specific impacts and make direct investments in the women affected by the mine’s operations, recognizing that there is a severe gender imbalance in the costs/benefits of mining in Porgera.
	Redesign community engagement and investment, and strengthen the human rights capacity at the mine by assessing current efforts, engaging with the community, and employing internationally recognized best practices.

Next Steps
	Create a company action plan, in dialogue with the community, to establish immediate, intermediate, and long-term actions designed to implement the report’s recommendations and secure access to remedy for victims in Porgera.