{"id":4113,"date":"2015-09-05T15:29:23","date_gmt":"2015-09-05T15:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/?p=4113"},"modified":"2015-09-05T15:29:23","modified_gmt":"2015-09-05T15:29:23","slug":"canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/","title":{"rendered":"CANADA\u2019S NEVSUN DEFENDS ERITREA MINING AFTER DAMNING UN REPORT SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 GAIANICITY LEAVE A COMMENT"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

<\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
\n
\"Bisha
Workers are shown smelting gold at the Bisha mine in Eritrea in this undated photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By\u00a0Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press, reposted from CTVNews<\/a><\/strong>, Sept 4, 2015<\/em><\/p>\n

CALGARY \u2014 Canadian mining company Nevsun Resources is defending its operations in Eritrea following a damning report by the United Nations that accused the miner of using forced labour in the North African country.<\/p>\n

Nevsun released an updated independent human rights report this week that found no evidence of forced labour or human rights violations at its 60-per-cent-owned Bisha mine in Eritrea, where thousands of people are fleeing on perilous treks to Europe.<\/p>\n

The report by LKL International Consulting is in contrast to June\u2019s UN report, which said Nevsun used forced labour at the Bisha mine after the company was required to hire government-owned contractors that included Segen Construction.<\/p>\n

The UN commissioners spoke with former Segen workers who said they were forced to work at the mine while in the compulsory national service.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though Segen tried to conceal their status, the majority of Segen\u2019s \u2018workers\u2019 were in fact conscripts performing their national service,\u201d wrote the commissioners.<\/p>\n

The UN report, which examined the overall human rights situation in Eritrea, found that \u201csystematic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed in Eritrea under the authority of the government. Some of these violations may constitute crimes against humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grim conditions in Eritrea have spurred many to flee for Europe, with the International Organization for Migration saying more than 25,000 Eritreans have crossed the Mediterranean into Italy this year.<\/p>\n

That represents by far the most from any single country on the route, which the IOM says is the deadliest entrance to Europe, with 2,267 deaths as of Aug. 25.<\/p>\n

Todd Romaine, vice-president of corporate social responsibility at Nevsun, said in an email that the company\u2019s operations help Eritrea in its ongoing development. He added that Nevsun is optimistic that well-paying jobs like those in the mining sector can help stem migration.<\/p>\n

Lloyd Lipsett, co-author of the Nevsun-commissioned report and principal of LKL, said in an interview that in his four trips to Eritrea, he has yet to see any outright repression or people being mistreated.<\/p>\n

But he said his role has been to assess human rights conditions related to Nevsun\u2019s operations, and he has not specifically investigated allegations against the government, such as secret detentions or abuse in prisons.<\/p>\n

The human rights lawyer said the UN allegations of forced labour dealt with the construction phase of the mine, while his assessments started after the mine was already operational in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been able to validate what\u2019s been happening 2013 onwards, and I have seen absolutely no evidence of national service workers being used by the different Eritrean contractors,\u201d said Lipsett.<\/p>\n

He said the people he interviewed denied the use of national service workers in the past, but he doesn\u2019t have enough certainty to make definitive conclusions himself.<\/p>\n

Those accusations, however, are set to be tested in B.C.\u2019s Supreme Court, where three Eritrean refugees are suing the company for allegedly being forced to work at the mine.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was launched last November but Dimitri Lascaris, one of lawyers pursuing the case, says Nevsun has since filed five motions challenging the jurisdiction and other aspects of the suit. Those motions, some of which Lascaris describes as \u201cremarkable,\u201d are set to be heard next January.<\/p>\n

Nevsun has denied the allegations, and says it will vigorously defend itself in court. The company has also questioned the methodology of the UN investigation while reaffirming its commitment to complying with international human rights standards.<\/p>\n

The Nevsun lawsuit is one of the first test cases of Canadian mining companies being sued for operations abroad, along with separate cases against Tahoe Resources and HudBay Minerals related to Guatemala.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Ecuadorian villagers have the right to use an Ontario court to seek billions in environmental damages from oil giant Chevron.<\/p>\n

Lipsett said he has kept his distance from the Nevsun court case, but added that he considers the willingness of Canadian courts to take on such cases as a positive step.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully the threat of a lawsuit will gather the attention of mining executives to invest in doing human rights due diligence at the front end, because if the Canadian courts are willing to hear cases here, that\u2019s serious stuff,\u201d he said.\u00a0SOURCE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workers are shown smelting gold at the Bisha mine in Eritrea in this undated photo. By\u00a0Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press, reposted from CTVNews, Sept 4, 2015 CALGARY \u2014 Canadian mining company Nevsun Resources is defending its operations in Eritrea following a damning report by the United Nations that accused the miner of using forced labour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.1359999999999998987476601541857235133647918701171875,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3000000000000000444089209850062616169452667236328125,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.67849999999999999200639422269887290894985198974609375,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92000000000000003996802888650563545525074005126953125,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.84999999999999997779553950749686919152736663818359375,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.1999999999999999555910790149937383830547332763671875,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.90000000000000002220446049250313080847263336181640625,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.270000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.020000000000000017763568394002504646778106689453125,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.4699999999999999733546474089962430298328399658203125,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCANADA\u2019S NEVSUN DEFENDS ERITREA MINING AFTER DAMNING UN REPORT SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 GAIANICITY LEAVE A COMMENT - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CANADA\u2019S NEVSUN DEFENDS ERITREA MINING AFTER DAMNING UN REPORT SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 GAIANICITY LEAVE A COMMENT - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Workers are shown smelting gold at the Bisha mine in Eritrea in this undated photo. By\u00a0Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press, reposted from CTVNews, Sept 4, 2015 CALGARY \u2014 Canadian mining company Nevsun Resources is defending its operations in Eritrea following a damning report by the United Nations that accused the miner of using forced labour […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UNITED ERITREA MEDIA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-05T15:29:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/polopoly_fs\/1.1115592.1416578298!\/httpImage\/image.jpeg_gen\/derivatives\/landscape_620\/image.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Administrator\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Administrator\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/\",\"name\":\"CANADA\u2019S NEVSUN DEFENDS ERITREA MINING AFTER DAMNING UN REPORT SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 GAIANICITY LEAVE A COMMENT - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-05T15:29:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-05T15:29:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/#\/schema\/person\/984095fb4b8562530c05496fc8b26adf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CANADA\u2019S NEVSUN DEFENDS ERITREA MINING AFTER DAMNING UN REPORT SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 GAIANICITY LEAVE A COMMENT\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/\",\"name\":\"UNITED ERITREA MEDIA\",\"description\":\"\u0648\u0633\u0627\u0626\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0625\u0639\u0644\u0627\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0625\u0631\u064a\u062a\u0631\u064a \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0648\u062d\u062f\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/#\/schema\/person\/984095fb4b8562530c05496fc8b26adf\",\"name\":\"Administrator\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/913b0e245545154e0835947100e60b86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/913b0e245545154e0835947100e60b86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Administrator\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/author\/administrator\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CANADA\u2019S NEVSUN DEFENDS ERITREA MINING AFTER DAMNING UN REPORT SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 GAIANICITY LEAVE A COMMENT - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CANADA\u2019S NEVSUN DEFENDS ERITREA MINING AFTER DAMNING UN REPORT SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 GAIANICITY LEAVE A COMMENT - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA","og_description":"Workers are shown smelting gold at the Bisha mine in Eritrea in this undated photo. By\u00a0Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press, reposted from CTVNews, Sept 4, 2015 CALGARY \u2014 Canadian mining company Nevsun Resources is defending its operations in Eritrea following a damning report by the United Nations that accused the miner of using forced labour […]","og_url":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/","og_site_name":"UNITED ERITREA MEDIA","article_published_time":"2015-09-05T15:29:23+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/polopoly_fs\/1.1115592.1416578298!\/httpImage\/image.jpeg_gen\/derivatives\/landscape_620\/image.jpeg"}],"author":"Administrator","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Administrator","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/","url":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/","name":"CANADA\u2019S NEVSUN DEFENDS ERITREA MINING AFTER DAMNING UN REPORT SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 GAIANICITY LEAVE A COMMENT - UNITED ERITREA MEDIA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-09-05T15:29:23+00:00","dateModified":"2015-09-05T15:29:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/#\/schema\/person\/984095fb4b8562530c05496fc8b26adf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2015\/09\/05\/canadas-nevsun-defends-eritrea-mining-after-damning-un-report-september-5-2015-gaianicity-leave-a-comment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CANADA\u2019S NEVSUN DEFENDS ERITREA MINING AFTER DAMNING UN REPORT SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 GAIANICITY LEAVE A COMMENT"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/#website","url":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/","name":"UNITED ERITREA MEDIA","description":"\u0648\u0633\u0627\u0626\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0625\u0639\u0644\u0627\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0625\u0631\u064a\u062a\u0631\u064a \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0648\u062d\u062f\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/#\/schema\/person\/984095fb4b8562530c05496fc8b26adf","name":"Administrator","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/913b0e245545154e0835947100e60b86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/913b0e245545154e0835947100e60b86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Administrator"},"url":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/author\/administrator\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4114,"href":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4113\/revisions\/4114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}