A Voice for Communities Affected by Mining

Posted: 29 March 2006

Oxfam’s partner in Ghana is helping people speak out and defend their rights.

High prices and modern, surface mining techniques are expanding the search for gold in Ghana. And as mining in Ghana increases, so too have the social and environmental problems.

Negative Environmental Impact: In Ghana's Wassa district alone, there are eight large surface mining companies. Between 1990 and 1998, 30,000 people were displaced by mines. In 2001, thousands of cubic meters of toxic mine waste were spilled in Wassa West, severely polluting the Assaman River, a water source for five villages and more than 1,000 people.

Human Rights Violations: In Sansu, a mining company has forbidden the use of a hauling road that leads to other villages and farms. Because of these restrictions and the loss of large agricultural areas, there has been growing conflict between the Sansu people and the mining company security. The conflict has escalated into beatings and even deaths when farmers, traders, and villagers use the haul road.

To help communities in conflict pressure mining companies and the government for justice, Oxfam America is supporting the work of the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM). WACAM’s staff of dedicated advocates is helping document human rights violations, develop media campaigns to promote balanced news coverage of the conflicts between villages and mines, and train citizens to understand and defend their rights. In Sansu, WACAM has documented deaths and beatings, and its human rights reporting and media work has helped expose community injustices and violence.

WACAM, established in 1998, has worked with 70 communities like Sansu. They are teaching community members mobilization, advocacy, and campaign skills. They are also educating them on their right to clean water and land. For women in Wassa West and other areas, WACAM is teaching leadership skills and encouraging their participation in human rights campaigns.
Since joining with Oxfam in 2003, WACAM has also helped train other organizations in Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso, three countries where gold mining is also increasing and communities are facing similar challenges.