| Rio Tinto and Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) | |
|---|---|
| Lead NCP | Australia |
| Supporting NCP(s) | |
| Description | Specific instance submitted by Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), an NGO, on behalf of affected individuals concerning an alleged non-observance of the OECD Guidelines by Rio Tinto, a mining company. |
| Theme(s) | General policies, Human rights, Environment |
| Date | 28 Sep 2020 |
| Host country(ies) | Papua New Guinea |
| Source | NGO |
| Industry sector | Human health and social work activities, Mining and quarrying, Agriculture, forestry and fishing, Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities |
| Status | In progress |
| Summary | On 28 September 2020, Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), an NGO, submitted a specific instance on behalf of affected individuals to the Australian NCP alleging that Rio Tinto, an Anglo-Australian mining company, had not observed the General Policies (Chapter II), Human Rights (Chapter IV) and Environment (Chapter VI) provisions of the OECD Guidelines. The submitter claimed that Rio Tinto is responsible for ongoing environmental and human rights violations arising from the operations of its former Panguna mine on Bougainville. In their submission, HRLC requested that Rio Tinto do the following: - Engage with mine-affected communities to resolve urgent problems and undertake formal reconciliation as per Bougainvillean custom - Fund an independent environment and human rights impact assessment of the mine site in close collaboration with the mine-affected communities - Contribute to a substantial independently-managed fund to address harms caused by the mine and assist long-term rehabilitation efforts in accordance with the assessment The specific instance is currently being reviewed by the Australian NCP’s Independent Examiner. |
