Papua New Guinea: Serious Abuses at Barrick Gold Mine | Human Rights Watch

4.2.11

Papua New Guinea: Serious Abuses at Barrick Gold Mine | Human Rights Watch: "(Toronto) - Private security personnel employed at a gold mine in Papua New Guinea have been implicated in alleged gang rapes and other violent abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Porgera mine has produced billions of dollars of gold in its twenty years of operation, and is operated and 95 percent owned by Barrick Gold, a Canadian company that is the world's largest gold producer.

The 94-page report, 'Gold's Costly Dividend: Human Rights Impacts of Papua New Guinea's Porgera Gold Mine,' identifies systemic failures on the part of Toronto-based Barrick Gold that kept the company from recognizing the risk of abuses, and responding to allegations that abuses had occurred. The report examines the impact of Canada's failure to regulate the overseas activities of its companies and also calls on Barrick to address environmental and health concerns around the mine with greater transparency."