218. In his testimony W29 blamed the events of the 16thto18th April 2012 on the activities of MASEU because, he stated, they had given AML workers very high expectations that they could not meet. However, the Panel did not find any evidence to substantiate this claim.
219. The Ministry of Labour and the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice should work together to review the Regulation of Wages and Industrial Relations Act in order to bring it into line with the spirit of section 26 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone and meet the obligations of Sierra Leone under the core ILO convention to make it possible for AML workers to belong to a trade union of their choice. 6.0 STAKEHOLDER RESPONSIBILITY AND RESPONSE
6.1 The Role of the Paramount Chief
220. The role of the Paramount Chief in the recruitment and payment of the workers of AML was identified as one of the key reasons for disquiet among the workers and the Paramount Chief on one hand and the community people on the other. Community people accused the Paramount Chief of discrimination in the recruitment and payment of local staff on behalf of AML.
221. The process is not transparent and is therefore the subject of speculation and insinuations. Most importantly, the process is not understood by the community people or job seeking youth. This is the information gathered through FGDs (especially with the youth) and during the fact-finding mission. W13 and W8 also mentioned these issues during the fact-finding mission.
222. It was further alleged that part of the tension emanated from the failure of the Paramount Chief to pay stone-pitchers, trench-diggers and grass-planters. The Paramount Chief denied all these allegations. These categories of jobs have been sub-contracted to the PC by AML in order to appease the indigenes of Bumbuna who have been repeatedly accusing AML of employing “foreigners”.
223. W23 told the Panel that the Chief does not pay any one on behalf of AML. It is only stone pitchers that he identifies who he said are paid by AML. This confirms the need for transparency so that rumours that have the potential to disrupt peace do not get rooted in the peoples’ minds. It is said that if a lie is told too often and for too long, it will be believed as the truth.
224. W34 told the Panel that the relationship of the Paramount Chief with certain people in the Chiefdom is not good. These statements were repeated by W13 and W8.
225. There were allegations that certain members of a rival ruling house might have opportunistically usurped the workers’ strike to foment trouble for the Paramount Chief. The Panel did not have any evidence to confirm these allegations. W22, a senior member of the said rival ruling house, denied these claims. He, through Exhibit B 27(a), a written statement that he read before the Panel on the 18th of July 2012, brought out issues of marginalization of some sections of the Chiefdom in the distribution of chiefdom resources and issues of the relationship between the Paramount Chief and AML. The Panel did not have the time to inquire into these issues in depth because the Chieftaincy issues in Bumbuna fall outside the terms of reference of this Inquiry.
226. However, since these issues are seen to be fueling discontent in Bumbuna, they need to be urgently resolved. A combination of issues in the same area that go unresolved for long can lead to public disorder situations even when the trigger events of such public disorder situations are unrelated.
6.2 The Role of African Minerals Ltd
227. The key questions to answer in this section are whether:
a. AML was complicit in the acts of the police during the events of 16th to 18th April 2012; and,
b. Whether AML was unresponsive to their workers grievances leading to frustration and despondency.
228. According to Principle 11 of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, AML has the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. According to the commentary under this principle, the responsibility to respect human rights exists independent of the government’s ability or willingness to protect human rights and goes beyond complying with national laws and regulations protecting human rights. The responsibility of companies entails full compliance with international human rights standards. These standards are found in the International Bill of Human Rights (UDHR, ICCPR, IESCR) and the ILO core conventionsnamely: the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Rights to Organize Convention, 1948; and the Right to Organize, Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949; Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Recommendation, 1958; the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951; and the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, 1998. Sierra Leone is a party to these conventions.
229. Principle 13 urges companies, in this case, AML, to:
(i) avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities, and address such impacts when they occur; and,
(ii) seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts.
230. Business relationships are understood to mean relationships with their business partners, entities in their value chain or any other state and non-state entity directly linked to its business operations, products or services. Companies are therefore implicated in rights abuses through their associations with third parties such as government agencies including the police and the security forces, other companies and private militia.
231. According to Principle 17 of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, a corporation can be complicit in human rights violations through their acts or omissions. This principle defines complicity in both legal and non-legal perspectives. A company will be seen to be complicit in the non-legal sense if it is seen to benefit from an abuse committed by a third party.
232. In the legal sense, complicity arises when it is proved that one aided and abetted or contributed to the violation of a right by providing material assistance or encouragement that has a substantial effect on the commission of the act or crime according to the commentary under principle 17.
233. Allegations were made that the police were transportedto Bumbuna using a bus from AML. This allegation was not proved. There was an allegation that the police went to arrest Rev. Daniel Bangura with a HAWK vehicle driven by the AML Police Liaison Officer. HAWK is one of the sub-contractors of AML. This allegation was proved. There was another allegation that AML had given the Police Twenty Four million Leones (Le 24,000,000) and that waswhy they reacted so brutally against the people of Bumbuna. Theallegation wasnot proved.
“I blame African Minerals because they bribed the police to cause confusion and destroy our wares.”
– Bumbuna resident.
“They [AML] gave the OC 24 Million Leones. That is why they misbehaved.”
– Bumbuna Resident.
234. Though there is scanty evidence to arrive at a finding of complicity, AML needs to review its relationship with the police and the government as a whole to ensure that it exerts positive influence in favour of the promotion and protection of human rights. This does not require that AML ceases to support government and its agencies like the police, rather, that AML should seek to give such support in ways that do not feed the perception of lack of independence on the part of the police in situations that involve AML. It has been recommended that the Police establish a Benevolent Fund where such support can be channeled.
235. On the second question, it appears that AML had left workers’ issues unaddressed for far too long, leading to frustration and despondency. That is why the workers resorted to a protest action. It appears that the management of AML is alienated from the low ranking staff of the company leading them to believe that Management can only address their grievances if they protest.
236. AML should ensure that all channels of communication are open to all staff including illiterate staff and ensure that the complaints of workers are attended to in a timely manner. AML should take steps to ensure that it addresses issues raised by both its workers and the community in Bumbuna. It should ensure periodic review of its activities to ensure that the rights of workers or the Bumbuna community are not violated.
237. As indicated earlier, the root cause of the events of the 16thto 18th April, 2012 was dissatisfaction by the workers of AML who embarked on a strike, which was joined by people who had other grievances against the company. That was why the protest action began with AML workers and ended up being a whole community affair in which most of the victims of the violence were community people.
238. The Community people have their own grievances against AML. These include youth who have been unable to secure a job or whose contracts had been terminated or not renewed. The women are angry about the water source and want it addressed. AML was accused of interfering with the water source for the people in Bumbuna without providing an alternative. Others are dissatisfied by the deplorable state of the roads in Bumbuna which they blamed on the huge trucks of AML. There is also a general sense of dissatisfaction because the people feel they are not adequately benefiting from the mining activities of AML or the hydro-electric dam. These grievances may be legitimate or illegitimate. The bottom line is that AML has a lot of communication and public education to do amongst the community members and job seekers.
“We walk long distances on muddy roads to fetch water to cook. We are suffering and our suffering is caused by African Minerals.”
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