(pradd) – liberia - Land Tenure and Property Rights Portal

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYLiberia is emerging from a period of protracted violent armed civil conflict over access to natural resourcesand social and economic marginalization of a large part of society. The export and international trade inrough diamonds mined in Liberia and Sierra Leone partly funded two Liberian civil wars, which werecharacterized by grave human rights abuses. In response, the United Nations (UN) imposed sanctions on theexport of diamonds from Liberia between 2001 and 2007. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme(KPCS) was established by the International Community in 2003 to prevent the proliferation of armedconflict funded by the trade in rough diamonds. The purpose is to create a transparent chain of custody fordiamonds to ensure that illegally mined and exported diamonds do not enter international trade.Property Rights Artisanal Diamond Development Liberia (PRADD) was established through a Memorandumof Understanding between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and theGovernment of Liberia (GOL) to assist with improved compliance with the KPCS. PRADD works closelywith Liberia’s Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy (MLME) and the Department of Planning andDevelopment (DPD). PRADD’s two primary objectives are to: 1) Increase the amount of artisanal diamondsentering the formal chain of custody; and 2) Increase the benefits from diamond mining that accrue to miningcommunities. To this end, PRADD has employed several methods to identify factors that contribute toinformality and non-registration of diamond production, and cause conflict in the Artisanal and Small-scaleDiamond Mining (ASDM) sector.Formalization of the ASDM is key to improving Liberia’s compliance with the KPCS. The present legal andregulatory framework for the minerals sector does not address sufficiently the realities of ASDM. Byformalizing the sector and improving the legal and regulatory framework, the government can increase theamount of diamonds entering the chain of custody; increase the revenue generated by the ASDM sector;while at the same time addressing the social, environmental, and development needs of artisanal diamondmining communities. This in turn would contribute towards social stability and improved livelihoods for ruralcommunities.This report proposes Policy, Legal, and Regulatory Interventions to improve the legal framework governingLiberia’s ASDM with a view to improve diamond production registration. It is based on an analysis ofspecific gaps and contradictions between mining laws and policies and customary rights practices. The mostpertinent gaps and contradictions identified in this report, to which interventions are proposed, are thefollowing.The principles in the Mineral Policy of Liberia (2010) are not yet integrated into existing mining laws andregulations, which creates inconsistency and ambivalence in governance of the minerals sector. As an overarchingstrategy to guide Liberia’s mineral development, the Mineral Policy focuses on large-scale mining. Itdoes not create a clear strategy to deal with the unique challenges and characteristics of ASDM. It isrecommended that the principles of the Mineral Policy be translated into the Minerals and Mining Law of2000 (MML) and that a separate Artisanal Diamond Mining Policy be formulated that provides for the uniquecharacteristics and needs of the ASDM sector. Sustainable development and sustainable mining principlesshould form the foundation for policy formulation and legal integration.Inconsistencies in the management strategies of different natural resources cause conflict between ASDM andother natural resource users. There are no clearly established land use priorities according to nationaldevelopment needs, nor an objective mechanism to evaluate competing land use options. An integratedsystem of land use planning should be pursued between different natural resource sectors to guide andcoordinate systematic and predictable natural resource development. The recommendation is to integrate thePRADD LIBERIA: A REVIEW OF THE LEGAL, REGULATORY AND POLICY FRAMEWORKGOVERNING ARTISANAL DIAMOND MINING IN LIBERIAv