By Joseph Allen
With the continued calls being made by the Indigenous community of Chinese Landing on the Government to evict a controversial miner from their lands, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is insisting that government cannot act on the issue now and have mining activities stopped.
At the National Toshaos Council Conference 2023, being held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, in Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, the issue of mining at Chinese Landing continues to surface in many discussions.
As such, on day two of the conference on Tuesday, the issue was again raised, and this time, Vice President Jagdeo, who was at the time speaking during the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) presentation said that the government can only act in response to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) request and not the request to stop mining.
“It’s a complex issue. We are forced by the decision of the human rights body to now respond and we have to take firm action because if they say that the village and the villagers are being affected because of pollution and harassment, then not only the Wayne Vieira mine, but also no illegal mining or anything or nobody should mine and that will solve the problem at least for now until we complete the fact-finding. We can’t (take) action against the individual because there is a ruling from the CCJ (Caribbean Court of Justice) already (in Vieira’s favour).”
As of now, Jagdeo says that government can only act on the basis of what was put forward as a complaint to the human rights body.
“We are required to take action to stop… the harassment of villagers and the only way you can do that is if there is no mining now if there is no mining, then you won’t have any pollution, you don’t have any miners harassing the villagers, you don’t have any social problems; so, we had to shut the mining down. We are faced with a lot of people”, he said.
As the matter stands, the Vice President noted that although the government remains on their [Chinese Landing’s] side, they also have to respect the CCJ’s decision.
“The reason they got the right to pursue that issue was because of the 2006 Amerindian Act, that we passed; the PPP/C passed, which gave the veto powers over medium and small-scale mining. It is we who give communities the power under the act passed by the PPP/C. Secondly, on that matter, we stood on the side of the community throughout, all the way up to the Caribbean Court of Justice, when the CCJ ruled against us. The GGMC [Guyana Geology and Mines Commission] said that Wayne Vieira should continue. They couldn’t cancel his lease using the Amerindian Act because he was there before basically before the Amerindian Act. Thirdly, this recent matter went to the Human Rights Commission and they claimed that because that matter with Wayne Vieira had already gone to the highest court, the CCJ [therefore] we have to respect the court.”
Despite what was said by the Vice President, it is believed by some that the Amerindian Act of 2006 can be amended to facilitate the halting of Vieira’s mining operations.
The IACHR, after analysing the argument put forward by the community, found that that situation deserved a high level of urgency “given the rights to life and personal integrity are at risk.”
The government was expected to report to the commission within 20 days of the receipt of its report, but as of now, it is unclear whether or not the government has done so.
History
Chinese Landing is an Indigenous Carib community located in the Barara River with a population of 210 villagers.
It consists of mostly females, and the main source of income is gold mining. Their livelihoods are further sustained through hunting, fishing, and farming which helps the village to earn cash and improve their standard of living.
The people of Chinese Landing obtained their land title under the Amerindian Act of 1951(amended in 1976). Further, the title was reissued in 1991 under the State Lands Act of 1991, and in 2018, the village received its certificate of title pursuant to the land registry act.
On March 8, the IACHR received a request for precautionary measures filed by the village council of the Indigenous Carib community of Chinese Landing, The Amerindian Peoples Association of Guyana, and the Forest People Programme, on behalf of the members of the Indigenous Carib community of Chinese Landing.
The request called on the Government of Guyana to adopt the necessary steps to protect the health, rights, personal integrity, and life of the people.
This request comes as the people of Chinese Landing are contending that persons mining Vieira’s concession continue daily to harass, threaten, and portray acts of violence towards the villagers.
It was noted that villagers are no longer able to mine due to the mining activities of Vieira and when they attempted to do so, they are met with aggression from the mine manager and security who were armed with guns.
The toshao of the village also alleged that he was even attacked by the company’s representatives and at times the villagers, especially, are harassed by miners.
Based on the claims put forward, the government was asked by the IACHR for a response.
The State explained that Vieira entered a ten-year agreement on July 1998, which give a portion of the land for medium-scale mining. In 2004, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs wrote the Guyana Geology and Mines, informing that the people of Chinese Landing did not wish to renew the permit.
However, despite the request, the GGMC went ahead and in 2007 the Ministry raised the issue again, noting that the GGMC’s act was a breach of faith as the 2006 Amerindian Act had made provision that the consent of the village was needed before the medium-scale mining permit could be renewed.
As such, in 2010, Vieira was issued a cease work order (CWO) by the Mines Officer. Vieira in response went to court in 2011, challenging the legitimacy of the GGMC to issue a CWO. The High Court then quashed the decision based on the notion that GGMC has no authority to issue a CWO under Section 48 of the Amerindian Act of 2006.
The GGMC further appealed the matter and in 2016, the Appeals Court overturned the decision and in 2017, the Caribbean Court of Justice overturned the Appeals Court’s decision on the basis that the CWO by the mines officer for the purpose of enforcing a requirement under the Amerindian Act is unlawful, particularly under the Amerindian Act, given that that the Amerindian Act had its own procedures for enforcement and it can only be administrated by the different authority.
In response to the villagers’ claims of threats, the State explained that they have deployed joint services patrols in the area and no such illegal activities were recorded.
The State insisted also that the Police Commander for the Region was also made aware of the matter and as such an investigation was ordered to investigate the matter. No official reports, according to the force. were made to them.
The police state that on other occasions they have conducted other investigations and concluded that the allegations are misleading.
In relation to the mercury contamination, the State said that they have deployed GGMC staff and Environmental Protection Agency Staff to the area, where the mines were located, and it was found that there were no breaches of safety. The only violation discovered was that a pit slope was unacceptable, and it did not have benching. Apart from this violation, all other activities were in compliance with the mining act.
Notwithstanding these explanations, the IACHR has asked the Government of Guyana to do the following. A) the state must take the necessary measures to protect the rights of life and personal integrity of the members of the Indigenous Carib community of Chinese Landing with culture, gender and age-appropriate perspective to prevent threats, harassment and other acts of violence against the community members; B) the state must consult and agree upon the measures to be adopted with the community and other representatives, and C) report on the action taken to investigate the event that led to the adoption of these precautionary measures, so as to prevent such events from reoccurring.
So far, the government has halted all mining activities until further notice and a meeting was held on August 07 with the village, which was attended by the Member of Parliament, Alister Charlie, Research Officer from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Anil Persaud, members of the Guyana Geology and Mines, Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Health, and Office of Professional Responsibility of the Guyana Police Force. They are said to be a part of a “fact-finding” team.
Several investigations were also done by the various agencies and their reports should have been submitted by August 10. The Chinese Landing council has flayed this fact-finding mission.
Its toshao, Orin Fernandes told the NTC on Monday that while the IACHR’s recommendations were clear and outlined what the government needed to do, “we are deeply disappointed that the government has chosen rather to engage in frivolous fact-finding. On August 6, 2023, the government sent a fact-finding team headed by Member of Parliament Alister Charlie and included Deputy Commissioner of the Guyana Geology Mines Commission (GGMC) Jimmy Reece and representatives from the Ministry of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, Guyana Police Force and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance to our community. We were clear that we are tired of talking and require action”.
