A Poisonous Mix - Human Rights Watch

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national and local authorities to take measures to end child labor, as outlined above. Significant improvements could be a steep rise in school enrollment rates, a notable reduction of child labor, or the end of child labor in amalgamation and other processes involving mercury. • Directly support measures to end child labor, for example, through projects that improve access to education and withdraw children from child labor. • Develop and publish a code of conduct or policy on child labor if they have not done so yet. Implementation of such a code or policy should be independently monitored by a credible third party. • Cooperate with associations of gold miners and the Mining Chamber to develop a sector-wide code of conduct on child labor in Mali’s artisanal mines. • Publicly express support for the National Action Plan on Child Labor, measures to end child labor in artisanal mining, and a national roundtable on child labor in artisanal mining. To Malian Associations of Artisanal Gold Miners • Develop a code of conduct or policy for Mali’s artisanal gold mining sector, obliging members to undertake measures towards the elimination of child labor in artisanal gold mining. • Urge members to implement the recommendations mentioned above. • Support a national roundtable on child labor in artisanal mining, with the aims outlined above. To All Governments • Support a strong international legally binding instrument 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. 91 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2011
Acknowledgements This report was researched and written by Juliane Kippenberg, senior researcher in the Children’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. Clive Baldwin, senior legal advisor, participated in the field research. Judit Costa, associate in the Children’s Rights Division, and Katharina Theil, Roland Algrant intern in the Children’s Rights Division, assisted with desk research. Katharina Theil also provided an early draft of the section on international law. The report was reviewed by Zama Coursen-Neff, deputy director of the Children’s Rights Division; Matt Wells, researcher in the Africa division; Jane Cohen, researcher in the Health and Human Rights Division; Chris Albin-Lackey, senior researcher in the Business and Human Rights Division; Agnes Odhiambo, researcher in the Women’s Rights Division; Clive Baldwin, senior legal advisor; and Babatunde Olugboji, deputy program director of Human Rights Watch. Production assistance was provided by Judit Costa and Noah Beaudette, associates in the Children’s Rights division; Anna Lopriore, creative manager; Grace Choi, publications director; Kathy Mills, publications specialist; and Fitzroy Hepkins, mail manager. We would like to thank Ben Silverstone of Doughty Street Chambers in London; Susan Gunn and Benjamin Smith of the International Labor Organization; Marcello Veiga, Professor of Mining Engineering at the University of British Columbia (Canada); and Stephan Böse O’Reilly, Assistant Professor of Public Health, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (Austria), for providing critical advice on specialist issues and commenting on this report, or sections of it. Most of all, we would like to thank the many Malian children who took the courage to share their stories with us. We are also grateful for the support and hospitality by NGO activists, traditional authorities, miners, teachers, health workers, and others we met in the course of conducting this research. We would also like to thank the Malian government for its openness to discuss the issues of this report with us. A POISONOUS MIX 92
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Mali A Poisonous Mix Child Labor, M
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Copyright © 2011 Human Rights Watc
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VI. A Poor Health Policy Response .
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A POISONOUS MIX II
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An artisanal gold mine, Kéniéba c
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Children carry calabashes and bucke
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Mining is one of the most hazardous
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Women work with mercury in the pres
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A boy climbs out of a shaft at an a
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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS • The Malian
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Methodology Field research for this
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I. The Context: Gold Mining in Mali
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Artisanal Gold Mining There are ove
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Artisanal miners who have been assi
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II. The Legal Framework Internation
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The Minimum Age Convention also per
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Trafficking in persons is prohibite
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The government has drawn up a natio
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fostering, or live and work by them
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I pull the buckets up…. It hurts
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I do gold panning and mixing [amalg
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Mercury traders provide mercury dir
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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
Page 91 and 92: government and others should provid
Page 93 and 94: • Urge gold traders and companies
Page 95 and 96: • free school meals, including in
Page 97: through national roundtables involv
Page 101 and 102: A POISONOUS MIX 94
Page 111 and 112: Annex IV A POISONOUS MIX 104
Page 113 and 114: Annex V A POISONOUS MIX 106
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A Poisonous Mix - Human Rights Watch

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