SITUATION ANALYSIS OF THE SMALL-SCALE GOLD ... - WWF

community at the best of their abilities, there also are testimonies of overly aggressive
police treatment of small-scale miners, particularly Brazilians.
Ministry of Defense (Ministry of Defense). The Ministry of Defense is responsible for
national security. Its working arm, the national army, is represented in the interior by a
military post on Stoelmanseiland. Yet without the physical and financial means of
transportation, military officers are very limited in their patrolling and law enforcement
activities. Consequently, the troops tend to remain in the immediate surroundings of
Stoelmanseiland, unless an emergency situation arises.
SSM zones are plagued by security problems that have been exacerbated by Brazilian
migration. Robberies and armed assaults along roads have become a real threat to miners.
Even though Brazilians are not the only culprits, anecdotal evidence suggests that
Brazilian criminal organizations have contributed to the professionalization and
organization of crime in mining areas. In fact, the various mining mafias often are better
organized and supplied than national security providers: police and military.
As the police and military take long to arrive at a crime scene, most miners do not even
bother calling upon the national law enforcement agencies. Instead, miners have
developed their own rules of conduct and security. These customary justice systems
differ per mining zone.
The Ministry of Education and Community Development (Ministerie van Onderwijs
en Volksontwikkeling; MINOV). The health care- and education system for the interior
are two agencies that maintain a permanent presence in the interior of the country. For
this reason, the Department of Education for the Interior of the Ministry of Education and
Community Development offers a unique opportunity to assist in the reform of the
SSGM sector in Suriname. Unfortunately this opportunity has not been capitalized on.
Consideration was given to establishing a Foundation for Experimental Mining (Stichting
Experimentele Mijnbouw; FEM), but involvement of the Ministry of Education was not
an integral part of this proposal. Involvement of the Ministry would solve part of the
infra-structure problem; existing school buildings and facilities could be used to train
miners. Students at the tertiary level could also assist in developing training material and
providing training. It is suggested that the FEM proposal be redrafted to rectify these
omissions.
The education system in Suriname consists of five levels: kindergarten, elementary,
junior-secondary, senior-secondary and tertiary. The Technological Faculty of the
University of Suriname has a Geology Department. Important natural resources for
Suriname are bauxite, gold, oil and other potential minerals such as copper, tin, platinum,
kaolin, uranium, tantalite and other pegmatite hosted minerals. The Nature Technical
Institute (Natuur Technisch Instituut; NATIN) is a senior-secondary educational institute
that also provides training in geology and mining, but at a more applied level.
The training in geology and natural resources extraction gives students an understanding
of the geological processes that form natural resources and the methods of mineral
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