Canadian firm to face historic legal case over alleged labour abuses in Eritrea
Appeals court rules against mining company Nevsun Resources, clearing way for workers to have claims of human rights violations heard in Canadian court
A Canadian mining company has lost its bid to block a lawsuit accusing it of human rights abuses against miners in Eritrea after a ruling by an appeals court in British Columbia.
The decision, against Nevsun Resources, paves the way for a groundbreaking legal challenge that links the Vancouver company to allegations of modern slavery.
The case, launched in 2014 by three refugees who alleged they were forced to work at Bisha mine and endured harsh conditions and physical punishment, is one of only a handful in which foreign claimants have been granted access to Canadian courts to pursue firms based in the country over alleged human rights abuses abroad.
Filed in Canada, the lawsuit was directed at Canada’s Nevsun, which owns a controlling interest in the gold, copper and zinc mine through a chain of subsidiary corporations.
The case was catapulted into the spotlight last year when a court in the province of British Columbia ruled that it could be heard in the Canadian legal system.
Nevsun appealed the 2016 ruling, arguing that any lawsuit should be heard in Eritrea. On Tuesday, however, the British Columbia court of appeal dismissed the company’s challenge, noting the risk of corruption and unfairness in the Eritrean legal system.
Joe Fiorante of Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said: “There will now be a reckoning in a Canadian court of law in which Nevsun will have to answer to the allegations that it was complicit in forced labour and grave human rights abuses at the Bisha mine.”
In affidavits filed with the court, the plaintiffs – all of whom have since left Eritrea – alleged that as conscripts in the country’s national service system, they were forced to work for government-owned construction firms subcontracted to build the mine. They claimed the conditions were inhuman and work was carried out under the constant threat of physical punishment, torture and imprisonment.
Since Nevsun owns 60% of the Bisha Mining Share Company, which owns and operates the mine (the other 40% is owned by the Eritrean government), the plaintiffs claim the Canadian company must have been aware of the reported abuses, but failed to prevent or stop them.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
In their decision, the British Columbia appeals court judges referenced a 2016 UN inquiry into human rights in Eritrea, which found the government had committed crimes against humanity in a widespread and systematic manner. The report noted that officials in the one-party state had enslaved up to 400,000 people, with many describing how the country’s system of lifelong military service amounts to modern-day slavery.
This system is at the heart of the case against Nevsun, said Fiorante. “Our case alleges that people that were conscripted into that system were forced to work in service of building a Canadian-owned gold mine in Bisha, Eritrea,” he said.
Fiorante added that about 60 people have so far come forward with similar claims of being forced to work at the mine.
Nevsun has denied the allegations contained in the lawsuit. While the company declined to comment on the latest ruling as the matter is before the court, a Nevsun spokesperson referred to a 2015 human rights audit of the Bisha mine, noting that contractual commitments strictly prohibit the use of national service employees by Bisha’s contractors and subcontractors.
Last year the Guardian spoke with several people who alleged they had been forced to work at the mine, earning as little as a dollar a day. The work was carried out amid horrendous conditions and a climate of fear and intimidation, they claimed.
“The mine was like an open prison,” said one former security guard, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect family still in Eritrea. “They can take you and do what they want with you. I was owned by them. We were like objects for the government and for foreign companies to do with us what they wanted.”
Source – The Guardian
Canadian miner loses appeal to move human rights lawsuit to Eritrea
The British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld a 2016 ruling by the B.C. Supreme Court that dismissed an appeal by Nevsun Resources (TSX:NSU) to have a human rights case against the company moved to the Eritrea.
Both tribunals agree that the province’s court has territorial jurisdiction since Nevsun is a British Columbia company. They also consider that even though the practical and logistical difficulties of trying these claims in B.C. would be considerable, there is a real risk of corruption and unfairness in hearing the case in the East African country.
The case at hand was brought forward in 2014 by three Eritrean refugees. They accuse Nevsun of being “an accomplice to the use of forced labour, crimes against humanity and other human rights abuses at the [company’s] Bisha mine.”
They say that the Nevsun engaged two Eritrean sub-contractors and the military while building the mine’s facilities and that through the Eritrean National Service Program they were forced to work long hours, were confined in small spaces, were poorly fed and received little pay while under the constant threat of physical punishment, torture and imprisonment.
The plaintiffs have since been joined by some 50 other workers in their claims. They tried to bring the case as a representative action but the B.C. Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that each had to file their own claim.
Approached by different media outlets, Nevsun replied over email that it did not want to comment on matters that remain before the court.
In the statement, the company wrote: “The Bisha Mine is committed to safe and responsible operations that respect the interests of local communities, workers, stakeholders and the natural environment. There are contractual commitments in place that strictly prohibit the use of national service employees by Bisha’s contractors and subcontractors.”
Sixty-per-cent of Bisha, which is located 150km west of Asmara, is owned by the Canadian miner, while the other 40 per cent is owned by companies run by the Eritrean government. The mine started operations as a gold-silver producer in 2010 and three years later it underwent a $110-million expansion to switch to copper concentrate production from supergene ore.
SOURCE – 