Shelter in Port-au-Prince, Haiti after the earthquake in 2010. Source: UN Photo/Logan Abassi United Nations Development Program
Despite examples from other countries in the region banning mining, Haitian government officials, along with the World Bank, continue to propose mining as a solution to the country’s economic problems. In January, the Director of Haiti’s Office of Mines and Energy (BME) stated that mining is essential to the future of Haiti’s economy. The director’s words were not new, but they brought renewed attention to the gold on Haitian soil and to the American and Canadian companies positioned to extract it.
There are no active metal mines in Haiti. Residents on lands subject to mining permits, however, have long identified the development of the mining industry as a threat to their communities and livelihoods.
The Haitian people are not alone in their concern about the impacts of mining. At a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) last fall, lawyers and experts from five Caribbean countries—Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Bahamas—presented the impact of extractive industries on human rights. of man and climate change in the Caribbean.
Samuel Nesner, executive secretary of the Haitian Youth Cultural Society (SOKIJA) and former animator of Kolektif Jistis Min (KJM), a coalition of Haitian civil society organizations and community activists, testified about the ongoing violent theft of land by farmers in rural Haiti. and the human rights and environmental risks posed by mining development in Haiti.
Nesner pointed out that, in Haiti, centuries of repeated land expropriation—in other words, land grabbing—have forced farmers and their families from their homes, especially in rural communities. Many times, land grabbing is done under the threat of violence and without adequate compensation for the loss of their land.
Mining causes extensive damage to vast amounts of land and has led to the displacement of communities around the world. Land in Haiti for agriculture is already in short supply.
According to Nesner and other lawyers, the land is often given to wealthy business owners or foreign companies to grow crops for export or extract minerals from the land. He explained – and an Ayibopost article in December details – that land grabbing is often facilitated by corrupt government officials who receive material benefits from business elites.
Foreign actors have long played a role in Haiti’s land grab crisis. During the American occupation of Haiti, more than seven percent of Haiti’s land was given or sold to American companies. More recently, the development of the Caracol Industrial Park after the devastating 2010 earthquake received significant funding from the United States and displaced 4,000 people almost overnight without any meaningful compensation.
Foreign businesses, countries and international bodies, such as the US-dominated Central Group, continue to have enormous influence over Haitian politics and development, overshadowing the voices of the Haitian people.
Nesner explained that the mining industry “brutally evicts villagers from their agricultural lands and causes serious damage to the already degraded environment.” Between 2006 and 2013, the Haitian government granted more than 50 mining permits to three American and Canadian companies to explore land occupied by dozens of communities in Haiti’s northern region.
These permits were granted in violation of Haitian law, without first conducting an adequate environmental and social impact assessment and without consulting the communities living on the land. Residents of communities living within the boundaries of mining permits fear that, with the Haitian government providing services to foreign mining companies, losing their homes and livelihoods is only a matter of time when these companies decide to mine.
Residents have also reported that representatives of mining companies have entered their land without permission, digging holes in their farmland and taking rock and core samples. In addition, some residents signed land access agreements with the American mining corporation Newmont without understanding the contents of the contract.
Others believed that the agreements would bring them future benefits similar to non-profit development projects or that signing the contract was necessary to receive compensation for damaged crops from the company. Some reported being paid by a Newmont representative to sign the deal.
Many residents stated that if they had known about the content of the agreements or the environmental impacts of mining exploration, they would never have signed the land access agreements.
When pressed, Newmont officials stated that these land access agreements would not be valid for any future mining activity.
Nesner emphasized that Haiti’s existing environmental degradation, centuries-old pattern of land grabbing, and the government’s demonstrated failure to respect the human rights of its people make the country uniquely vulnerable to extractive industry activities. Mining causes extensive damage to vast amounts of land and has led to the displacement of communities around the world. Land in Haiti for agriculture is already in short supply. Haiti’s propensity for earthquakes, moreover, creates unique risks for tailings dam failures, which have caused increasingly catastrophic deaths and environmental destruction globally.
Nesner emphasized to the IACHR that the displacement of farmers by extractive industries is a violation of their human rights and should be rigorously condemned, including by international lawyers.
Learning from mining experiences in other countries, KJM and other organizations continue to educate residents on the dangers of mining and promote sustainable development paths defined by the Haitian people. This fall, KJM and the Global Justice Clinic at New York University will launch Ayiti Kanpe Min (Haiti Without Mining), a website to provide Haitian communities with information about the mining industry, their legal rights, companies’ obligations mining and the dangers posed by mining to Haitian communities.
Given decades of opposition to mining in Haiti, mounting evidence of its catastrophic damage, and the growing number of countries banning the industry, Haiti may be well positioned to become the first Caribbean country to ban mining. metals. This is the hope of communities in Northwest Haiti fighting for their future in a mine-free Haiti.
