KJM Press Note on Mining Law (2019)

It is with great indignation and with a sentiment of revolt that Kolektif Jistis Min (Mining Justice Collective or KJM) saw, in a press statement dated February 15, 2019 published by the mining company Resources Générale Corporation (formerly VCS Mining), the announcement that the draft mining law would be voted during the Senate’s next session. The mining law is “a poison for the wild horse,” concocted by the World Bank, multinational companies, and the PHTK (Haitian Tèt Kale Party, the party in power in Haiti since 2011).

KJM denounces, with all its force, the silence and complicity of the Senate in the face of serious accusations of violations of the peoples’ rights to information and participation. We remind you that since 2014, national and international actors have condemned the proposal to build metal mines in Haiti, and have criticized the draft mining law as a trap. The law was drafted behind closed doors, violating the right to participation and violating the rights of the residents and the animals that live in communities directly affected by mining. If enacted, the law would violate the right to a healthy environment, the right to water, and the right to health. The law also contradicts Haiti’s Constitution.

Over the past years, KJM, together with organizations in communities affected by mining, has consistently published press statements, spoken on the radio, held conferences and protests, and published open letters to publicly reject mineral exploitation. We also publicly condemn the Haitian government, who has granted mining permits to a number of companies, and consulted with those very companies to draft the mining law.

It is with great frustration and discontent that we hear on the radio program Voice of America (VOA) how President Jovenel Moïse, in a meeting with President Donald Trump, disregards the demands and concerns of the Haitian people and, instead, suggests the mining industry as an opportunity for investment. The president not only fails to consider the position of Haitian people, particularly the concerns of communities that would be directly affected by mining, but in promoting metal mining—an industry that would require us to cut down trees and contaminate our water—he mocks the significance of March 21, International Day of Forests, and March 22nd, World Water Day.

The President’s comments on VOA confirms the rumor that he is willing to sell the country’s natural resources to maintain power. Metal mining will not lead the country out of poverty. Rather, metal mining would be a form of looting; it is a colonial project that would take the country’s resources to make money for the few, while the majority—poor people, farmers—will become further impoverished because the government will take their land and destroy their farms to allow multinational companies to build mines. KJM invites the Haitian population to reflect on the history of and experiences of mining in Haiti, beginning in 1492 when Europeans arrived with the discourse of “civilization,” destroying indigenous populations, damaging the environment, extracting natural resources and carrying them home to develop and profit their own countries. We must not forget communities’ experiences with the companies SEDREN in Meme and REYNOLD’S in Payan from 1956 to 1986, and the reality in those communities today. This is one more piece of evidence to show that mining companies come and take what is of value—the meat—and leave behind bones and skin. Thus, KJM launches a call to mobilize against mining exploitation in the country.

Money makes the dog dance! Even the promise of a little money is sufficient to make senators, deputies, and other authorities who should act in the interest of the population vote for a law that would legitimize and legalize looting and destruction. KJM asks the Haitian population—communities directly affected by metal mining; farmers’ organizations who believe in their right to access the land to farm, and who believe that the best path for the country is to grow our own food; progressive organizations who believe that our country must reject the colonial, capitalist logic of extraction; human rights organizations who believe that living in a healthy environment, with good health, with access to food, and with safe water to drink are fundamental rights of all people; and ecological and environmental organizations—to unite in solidarity and strength to demand that we STOP MINING in the country, and that we prevent the World Bank’s draft law from passing. The Haitian people are watching with open eyes, and organizing to prevent the exploitation of mineral resources and to block Parliament from passing the mining law, from taking our land, from destroying our farms, from destroying our environment and our rivers and springs, to authorize companies to take our natural resources to serve their own interests, leaving us in greater poverty and suffering.

Haitian people, affected communities, farmers organizations, environmental organizations, human
rights organizations, workers’ rights groups, labor unions, the unemployed, residents of poor
neighborhoods, let us organize to stop metal mining in our country!
Yes to life, no to metal mining!!!!!

Signed by Kolektif Jistis Min:

Franndy Lesperance
Peterson Derolus