Responsible mining

A human rights-based approach to mining.

The purpose of this planned project is to facilitate equitable and sustainable development in mining areas based on respect for human rights. The overriding aim is to develop a model to analyse and strengthen the capacities available at the local level – local communities and local authorities – which are necessary to cope effectively with mining’s impacts.

The project aims to improve the standing of rightholders in both theoretical and practical ways:

a human rights-based approach to mining as a theoretical and methodological contribution to the field of responsible business conduct, human rights, and development.

a computerised graphic tool (“3-D Cube”) that displays key information about capacities and institutions at the local level.

The project will be pursued with partners in civil society, sub-national public authorities and academia, who collaborate to identify indicators and pilot the entire approach. The results will be of interest to practitioners – including companies implementing CSR, international donors and central governments – to better coordinate and support local institutional development in mining areas.

Background publications and field work (Ghana and Peru)

Mares, ‘Disruption and institutional development: Corporate standards and practices on responsible mining’, in I. Feichtner et al., Human Rights in the Extractive Industries: Transparency, Participation, Resistance (Springer 2019) pp. 375-414 Link

Mares, ‘Corporate responsibility and compliance with the law: land, dispossession and aftermath at Newmont’s Ahafo project in Ghana’, Business and Society Review 117.2 (2012) Link

Mares, ‘From charity to institutional development: Reflections on Newmont’s CSR strategies and conflict-avoidance in Ghana’ in I. Boerefijn et al., Human Rights: Pre-Conflict, In Conflict, and Post-Conflict, Intersentia (Cambridge, 2012) pp. 213-231 Link

 

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