As Fatou Bensouda approaches the end of her tenure as ICC Prosecutor, Global Insight assesses the cases and events that have dominated her time at the Court and looks at the challenges that lie ahead for her successor.
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Hans Merket, a researcher with the International Peace Information Service (IPIS), says he didn’t go into Tanzania expecting to learn about people getting hurt and killed. His group simply wanted to measure how mines were viewed by surrounding communities.
But when they got to Mwadui, the area around the Williamson diamond mine, he kept hearing how mine security forces had taken violent action against purported trespassers on the mine area. There were reports of people being shot, stabbed, beaten, locked up, and killed.
“We really stumbled on these abuses,” he says. “We usually don’t do advocacy. It’s not our specialization.”
Petra Diamonds Settles Human Rights Claims jckonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jckonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
RAPAPORT. Petra Diamonds has agreed to pay $6 million (GBP 4.3 million) to settle violence claims at its Williamson mine in Tanzania.Some 71 anonymous claimants brought accusations of human-rights breaches at the site over several years. UK-based nonprofit Rights and Accountability in.
Petra s $6m Human Rights Settlement May 13, 21 by
Petra Diamonds announced yesterday that it had agreed a $6m settlement over alleged human rights breaches at its Williamson mine, in Tanzania.
The UK-listed miner made no admission of liability, but its own investigation concluded that the security teams it employed to protect the sprawling of 30km2 kimberlite resource from illegal miners had been responsible for some deaths a
nd many injuries.
A sub-committee of independent Petra non-executive directors carried out its own investigation a
nd found that there were 12 confirmed deaths of illegal diggers, with the likely deaths of four others. The available evidence is that of the 12, some were killed by Zenith Security personnel (the third party organization tasked with securing the mine) and at least one by the Tanzanian Police Force, all during violent confrontations .