Letters to Barrick

October 18, 2022

LETTER FROM MININGWATCH TO BARRICK CEO MARK BRISTOW

Re: Urgent Request that Barrick Halt Forced Evictions and Carry out Independent Due Diligence on Violence and Human Rights Abuses Associated with Forced Evictions at the North Mara Gold Mine

In September MiningWatch undertook a seventh human rights assessment at the North Mara Gold Mine. We focussed on human rights impacts related to the mine since Barrick took over management control in September 2019. Our findings are detailed in MiningWatch’s recent report “‘He was murdered’: Violence against Kuria High after Barrick Takeover of Mine.” We are dismayed to have first-hand accounts of ongoing high levels of violence by mine security, since September 2019, against local Kuria villagers. We have gathered information and documented cases of excess use of force against villagers by Field Force Units of the Tanzanian police, who receive payments and other forms of support from the mine and act as mine police. We also noted the discontinuation of a functioning grievance mechanism.

Full letter available here

November 14, 2022

LETTER FROM BARRICK CEO MARK BRISTOW TO MININGWATCH

Re: Response to your letter dated 18 October 2022

Full letter available here

JANUARY 27, 2023

LETTER FROM MININGWATCH TO BARRICK CEO MARK BRISTOW

Re: Forced evictions and related human rights abuses ongoing at North Mara Gold Mine

In our October 2022 report, and in our letter to you of 18 October 2022, we provided details of our findings while in North Mara in September and October in regard to forced evictions and related human rights abuses suffered by people of Komarera village, who are being forced out of their homes and off of their land, without adequate compensation and resettlement, to make way for the expansion of your North Mara gold mine.

In your response of 14 November 2022, you deny that people from Komarera are being forcibly evicted. In December, MiningWatch received further information regarding the ongoing forced evictions including testimonies and footage of utterly distraught villagers and their children, surrounded by armed police, watching their homes being bulldozed while their newly washed clothes are still hanging to dry outside the house. The footage also shows dazed families standing amidst the rubble of their former homes with their belongings spread around them.

Full letter available here