A Poisonous Mix - Human Rights Watch

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A boy digs a shaft at an artisanal gold mine, Kéniéba circle, Mali. © 2010 International Labour Organization/IPEC Human Rights Watch | December 2011 11
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS • The Malian government should immediately take steps to end the use of mercury by child laborers, through information dissemination and outreach with affected communities. • The Malian government and international donors, including the United States and European donors, should give full political backing and sufficient financial support for the recently adopted National Action Plan on Child Labor, including to programs for the withdrawal of children working in mines. • As part of a nationwide campaign on child labor and the right to education, local authorities—with oversight from national government—should raise awareness in the mining communities about the laws on hazardous child labor and compulsory education. Labor inspectors should start inspections in artisanal mines and sanction those who use child labor in contravention of the law. • The Malian government should improve access to education for children in artisanal gold mining areas, by lifting school fees, introducing free school meals, increasing state financial support for community schools, and improving school infrastructure. It should also establish a social protection scheme for child laborers, including those in mining areas that ties cash transfers to regular school attendance. • The Malian government, together with civil society groups, should develop a national action plan for the reduction of mercury in artisanal mining, with attention to the particular situation of children and pregnant women living and working in artisanal mining areas. • The Malian government should develop a comprehensive public health strategy to tackle chronic mercury exposure and mercury poisoning in Mali, with a particular focus on child health. • The Malian government should improve the livelihood of artisanal mining communities by providing training on improved mining techniques, assisting artisanal miners in efforts to set up cooperatives, and offering incomegenerating activities in other sectors. • National and international companies buying gold from Mali’s artisanal mines should have due diligence procedures that include regular monitoring of child labor. If child labor is found, companies should urge the government and suppliers to take measurable steps towards the elimination of child labor in their supply chain within a defined time frame, and directly support measures to end child labor. • The International Labor Organization should renew its “Minors out of Mining” initiative, in which 15 governments committed to eliminate child labor in artisanal mining by 2015. • All governments should support a strong global treaty on mercury that requires governments to implement mandatory action plans for mercury reduction in artisanal gold mining. The action plans should include strategies to end the use of mercury by children and pregnant women working in mining, and public health strategies to address the health effects of mercury poisoning. 12 A Poisonous Mix
Page 1 and 2: Mali A Poisonous Mix Child Labor, M
Page 3 and 4: Copyright © 2011 Human Rights Watc
Page 5 and 6: VI. A Poor Health Policy Response .
Page 7 and 8: A POISONOUS MIX II
Page 9 and 10: An artisanal gold mine, Kéniéba c
Page 11 and 12: Children carry calabashes and bucke
Page 13 and 14: Mining is one of the most hazardous
Page 15 and 16: Women work with mercury in the pres
Page 17: A boy climbs out of a shaft at an a
Page 21 and 22: Methodology Field research for this
Page 23 and 24: I. The Context: Gold Mining in Mali
Page 25 and 26: Artisanal Gold Mining There are ove
Page 27 and 28: Artisanal miners who have been assi
Page 29 and 30: II. The Legal Framework Internation
Page 31 and 32: The Minimum Age Convention also per
Page 33 and 34: Trafficking in persons is prohibite
Page 35 and 36: The government has drawn up a natio
Page 37 and 38: fostering, or live and work by them
Page 39 and 40: I pull the buckets up…. It hurts
Page 41 and 42: I do gold panning and mixing [amalg
Page 43 and 44: Mercury traders provide mercury dir
Page 45 and 46: The Use of Mercury in Artisanal Min
Page 47 and 48: Extended periods of bending over to
Page 49 and 50: mine from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and tha
Page 51 and 52: Children Earning Their Own Money So
Page 53 and 54: thirds of child laborers surveyed i
Page 55 and 56: Agriculture and domestic labor are
Page 57 and 58: IV. Sexual Exploitation and Violenc
Page 59 and 60: Health workers and organizations wo
Page 61 and 62: However, the government’s efforts
Page 63 and 64: Programs to End Child Labor in Arti
Page 65 and 66: In June 2005, 15 countries, includi
Page 67 and 68: VI. A Poor Health Policy Response C
Page 69 and 70:
Artisanal mining areas also lack se
Page 71 and 72:
VII. “I Have Never Been to School
Page 73 and 74:
When parents in Mali have to make c
Page 75 and 76:
It is really difficult to combine s
Page 77 and 78:
quality of education. 332 High stud
Page 79 and 80:
VIII. The Gold Traders’ Responsib
Page 81 and 82:
Child labor is not good. The gold g
Page 83 and 84:
Chamber about the conditions in whi
Page 85 and 86:
“conflicts of interest when the m
Page 87 and 88:
inding mining code is scheduled for
Page 89 and 90:
Conclusion Child labor in Mali’s
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government and others should provid
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• Urge gold traders and companies
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• free school meals, including in
Page 97 and 98:
through national roundtables involv
Page 99 and 100:
Acknowledgements This report was re
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Annex IV A POISONOUS MIX 104
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Annex V A POISONOUS MIX 106
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A POISONOUS MIX 108
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A Poisonous Mix - Human Rights Watch

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