Haiti: Mining Laws

Colleagues hike to community in Northwest Haiti. Photo by Ellie Happel

In 2013, the World Bank provided assistance to the Haitian government for activities related to the development of the mining sector, including the drafting of national mining legislation. Many Haitian communities and civil society organizations were concerned that development of this sector would result in serious negative human rights and environmental impacts. These concerns were partly based on experiences with the nascent gold mining sector in Haiti.

Although the sector is still largely undeveloped and no large-scale gold mining operations are currently taking place in Haiti, some communities have already reported negative impacts and rights violations caused by initial prospecting and exploration activities. Companies reportedly drilled and dug holes on community land without telling landowners who they were and why they were there. Even when companies did approach communities about operating on their land, a number of community members reported alarming irregularities, including agreements being signed by unauthorized third parties and attempts to conclude agreements only after the company had worked on the individual’s land.

Community members also reported crop damage from mining activities, and companies failed to establish complaint offices or other mechanisms to resolve issues raised by community members. At the time, communities feared that if the mining sector continued to develop, and if companies proceeded with more serious mining activity, these negative environmental and social impacts might become more severe.

The draft law was expected to encourage international investment in the mining sector, but many Haitians feared the risks that could come with this inherently dangerous industry, including contamination of vital waterways, impacts on the agriculture sector, and involuntary displacement of communities. They were concerned that the law included some weak or vague provisions that would not adequately protect against these potential harms.

Adding to these fears, many people in Haiti were concerned that the Haitian government lacked the capacity to effectively monitor and regulate mining company activities. The bank itself has previously flagged corruption and other concerns with regard to the Haitian government. The government also appeared to lack the human, technical, and financial resources needed to oversee mining activities—especially those, like open pit mining, which come with inherent risks.

Haitians who were aware that a new mining law was being developed were frustrated that the public had not had the opportunity to participate in meaningful consultations with decision-makers about the law reform process. Reports indicate that the law had been developed in consultation with private mining companies, yet the draft law had not been circulated publicly and the World Bank and government had made only minimal attempts to inform or consult with parties outside of the private sector. Mining-affected communities and organizations in Haiti wanted an opportunity to participate in and comment on a law reform process that might have had direct and significant impacts for them in the future.

Initial Steps

Starting in 2013, the Mining Justice Collective and the NYU Global Justice Clinic held dozens of meetings with community-based organizations and communities affected by mining activities to share information and learn about their experiences and concerns. Representatives of the collective and the clinic also met with government officials to attempt to learn more about planned mining sector reforms and opportunities for public participation.

The Complaint

Complainants alleged that World Bank assistance with the development of the mining law violates the bank’s social and environmental safeguard policies, fails to protect the environmental and human rights of the Haitian people, violates the Haitian Constitution, and impedes the ability of the Haitian government to meet its human rights obligations under international law.

Specific violations of World Bank policy included:

• Failure to properly classify Bank assistance for developing the Haitian mining sector as “likely to have significant adverse environmental impacts”
• Failure to conduct a Sectoral Environmental Assessment to evaluate the impacts of the strategy against alternative options
• Failure to consult with locally affected people and concerned civil society organizations
• Failure to make the draft law publicly available or translate it into Haitian Creole
• Failure to adequately protect natural habitats, forests, water resources or cultural resources, or to assess the Haitian government’s capacity to do so
• Failure to ensure that the draft law will properly protect the rights of community members with regard to forced displacement caused by mining

The complaint also claimed that many of the social and environmental standards in the new mining law were too weak and that they failed to live up to the World Bank’s own minimum standards applicable to mining activities.

The complaint called for an in-depth, transparent analysis of the Haitian government’s capacity to regulate mining activities and protect the human rights of Haitian communities. It also requested that the new mining law be translated into Haitian Creole, subjected to a serious public consultation process, and revised to include stronger social and environmental protections.

The Process

After reviewing the complaint, the World Bank Inspection Panel found that it could not register or investigate this complaint. Although the Panel found that the complaint meets its criteria for registration and raises “serious and legitimate” concerns, it found that the World Bank chose to fund its activities in the Haitian mining sector in a way that exempts them from the Bank’s social and environmental safeguards. Since no standards apply to the project, the Inspection Panel had no basis for reviewing the case.

The Panel’s Notice of Non-Registration concluded its involvement in this case.

Follow Up

The Panel’s decision uncovered a loophole in the World Bank’s policy that gives the Bank discretion to avoid applying its social and environmental standards based on its own funding decisions. We are continuing our work on this issue to close this accountability gap and ensure that the bank’s social and environmental standards apply to all of its operations.

Case Partners

Global Justice Clinic, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, NYU School of Law: A legal clinic dedicated to bringing human rights law to bear on situations of global injustice.

The Kolektif Jistis Min (Mining Justice Collective): A coalition of six Haitian organizations and dozens of communities with a common mission to: share information about mining and human rights with Haitian communities; support communities as they organize to define and promote their collective interests; and advocate at the local, national and international levels for the economic, social, political and cultural rights of Haitian communities. The organizations involved in the Collective have a combined membership of over 50,000 Haitians.