Five Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are calling on the Government to conduct independent investigations into the underlying insecurity and human rights violations in mining communities, particularly those impacted by Newmont Ahafo North and South activities.
The CSOs are West African Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM), the Centre for Public Interest law, the Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis, the Global Media Foundation and the Centre for Social Impact Studies.
This call by these CSOs follows last week’s horrifying killing of three persons at the Newmont Ahafo Mine by some Police personnel who had been contracted by the mining giant to provide security at its tailings dam. About four others sustained various degrees of injury in the process.
The three persons were shot dead by the Police on the night Wednesday January 8, 2025, at Newmont Ahafo South Mine site in Kenyasi following a confrontation between some youth of the area and the Police.
Reports say the said disagreement arose when some youth reportedly went to the tailing dam section of the mine, ostensibly to extract some left-over gold from the company’s tailings (or waste) dam.
This generated a heated quarrel between the youth and the Police who had been contracted by Newmont to provide security at the place.
In the process, the Police shot at the irate youth, killing three persons instantly and injuring four others.
“We are extremely concerned by the incident at Newmont’s Ahafo South mines, where reports indicate that, police officers who were protecting Newmont’s site, shot and killed three people and injured others on 8th January 2025. The deceased and injured persons who are believed to be indigenes of Acherensua in the Ahafo region, were alleged to have engaged in illegal mining activities on the concession of Newmont’s Ahafo South mines”, the five CSOs in a Press Statement said.
They further called on the Inspector General Police should investigate the conduct of the police personnel deployed to protect Newmont and the incident that have resulted in the needless deaths and injuries to poor and vulnerable people.
They also asked for the review of the security protocols in mining areas recognizing the rights of mining affected communities and called on the government to hold mining companies accountable by requiring them to take on greater responsibility and mandating the reporting of measures they implement to protect the rights of individuals in mining communities.
“This should aim at preventing future incidents of gross human right abuses, ensure that mining companies and law enforcement agencies operate within the tenets and boundaries of the law and respect for human rights”, the statement said.
Newmont was yet to make any official statement about the issue at the time of filing this report.
Please find below the full text of the Press Release
Press Statement
13th January 2025
Urgent need to address systemic insecurity and human rights violations in mining communities.
We are extremely concerned by the incident at Newmont’s Ahafo South mines, where reports
indicate that, police officers who were protecting Newmont’s site, shot and killed three people
and injured others on 8th January 2025. The deceased and injured persons who are believed to
be indigenes of Acherensua in the Ahafo region, were alleged to have engaged in illegal mining
activities on the concession of Newmont’s Ahafo South mines.
Whilst the tragic incident is under investigation, it has sparked significant public outrage and
condemnation among the youth, some traditional authorities in Acherensua and other
neighboring communities who are of the belief that, the response of the security agencies to
the alleged illegal mining activity was excessively disproportionate to the allegation of
trespassing leading to the needless deaths and injuries.
Many stakeholders including Civil Society Organisations and Human Right Defenders have
raised concerns about the growing tensions in mining communities especially those affected
by Newmont’s Ahafo mines. This incident cannot be disassociated from the existing tensions
and underlying unaddressed community concerns against the modus operandi of Newmont
Mining Company. The systemic trend of insecurities and harassment which had led to deaths
and severe injuries to people in mining communities due to the employment of state and private
security personnel by multinational mining companies to protect their concessions had been
treated with undue leniency by state agencies.
Such acts of gross human rights violations in the mining sector compelled The Commission on
Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to undertake investigations into the human
rights abuses in the mining sector in 2008. A report by CHRAJ on the state of human rights in
mining communities in Ghana highlighted that in the case of large-scale mining
concessionaires, there is evidence that alleged illegal miners and some innocent community
members were harassed and inhumanely treated often with the help of state security.
The Report additionally notes that almost all the companies operating in the communities
CHRAJ visited had established Security Posts in their concessions for the military, the police
or both to protect the company. It is apparent that the recommendations made by CHRAJ called
upon the Security Agencies to comply strictly with Article 15 (1) (2) of the 1992 Constitution
of Ghana, which provides that: “The dignity of all persons shall be inviolable. No person shall,
whether or not he/she is arrested, restricted or detained, be subjected to a) torture or other cruel
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; b) Any other condition that detracts or is likely
to detract from his dignity and worth as a human being.”
The actions of the mining companies with respect to how they use the security agencies in
handling allegations of trespassing on mining concessions by host communities constitute
violations of the rights of people in mining communities with impunity and therefore such
methods have not yielded the required results.
The 1992 Constitution of Ghana guarantees the right to life and the right to fair trial. Where
individuals are alleged or accused to be engaged in illegal mining activities it does not warrant
extrajudicial actions. It is proper that all individuals are given the right to go through all due
processes under the law. As much as it is the responsibility of state security personnel to enforce
the law whilst protecting mining companies, they are also entrusted with the responsibility to
protect the rights and lives of all citizens.
We call on the Government to as a matter of urgency:
1. Conduct independent investigations into the underlying insecurity and human rights violations in mining communities, particularly those impacted by Newmont Ahafo North and South activities.
2. The Inspector General Police should investigate the conduct of the police personnel deployed to protect Newmont and the incident that have resulted in the needless deaths and injuries to poor and vulnerable people.
3. Review the security protocols in mining areas recognising the rights of mining affected communities.
4. Hold mining companies accountable by requiring them to take on greater responsibility and mandating the reporting of measures they implement to protect the rights of individuals in mining communities.
This should aim at preventing future incidents of gross human right abuses, ensure that mining companies and law enforcement agencies operate within the tenets and boundaries of the law and respect for human rights.
Kwaku Afari, (Technical Director, WACAM)
Alhassan Iddrissu, (Legal Advocate, Centre for Public Interest law)
Samuel Obiri (Dr), (Executive Director, Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis)
Raphael Ahenu, (Executive Director, Global Media Foundation)
Robert Tanti Ali, (Executive Director, Centre for Social Impact Studies)