BY Business & Human Rights Resource Centre:
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/briefings/financing-mini...
‘Financing mining for transition minerals in South Africa: Are banks doing enough on human rights?’ takes a deeper look at the financing aspects of the just transition, paying particular attention to the mining of transition minerals.
We analysed human rights commitments and actions of 15 banks (10 international and 5 local banks) financing transition mineral mining in South Africa. Our research revealed these banks are not taking adequate measures to avoid contributing to the most salient risks in the mining sector.
Of the banks surveyed for the briefing:
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Over 80% (12 out of 15) have a policy or public statement to respect human rights. This commitment, however, is not complemented by specific policies and procedures to address the most salient risks in the mining sector.
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None have a clear requirement for their clients in the mining sector to respect Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of communities in all circumstances. Eight international banks mention FPIC, but only in relation to project finance.
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None of the local banks have specific human rights due diligence policies regarding the mining sector covering both corporate and project finance services, only one has ‘some consideration’ of human rights due diligence.
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Of the 10 international banks surveyed, only three have clear exclusion policies in place based on poor track records of human rights or environmental abuses, while locally only one of the five banks has such a policy.
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Only four of the 10 international banks have a clear cross-sector commitment to provide remedy when associated with human rights harms, while none of the local banks have such a policy of commitment.
The briefing sets out recommendations for banks, urging them to address serious human rights and environmental concerns before providing corporate or project finance. The full set of recommendations can be found in the report.
Many thanks,
Manson Gwanyanya & Caroline Avan
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
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