Porgera Alliance

Category: Human Rights

  • PNG TO PROTEST TO CANADA: Porgerans respond to accusations about their advocacy abroad

    At the outset, we write to establish our facts surrounding the sudden outburst by Member for Lagaip Porgera Hon. Philip Kikala in Parliament questioning about the rights of four Porgera villagers recent visit to Canada.

    The four villagers from Porgera where not there in Canada, trying to sell fabricated stories against Barrick Gold of Canada. We have outstanding issues that needed immediate attention and needs to be addressed by Barrick gold, the 95% owner of the Porgera Joint Venture mine in Porgera.

    The allegations against Barrick about killings, rapes, forced evictions are not framed allegations to make easy money. The Government of Papua New Guinea and Barrick are respectively blamed for these crimes of gross human rights violations and the matter has been on the government and Barricks table for sometime. Untied Nations Human Rights Commission has full knowledge of the human rights abuses and closely monitoring while the UN Special Rarpportuer on Human Rights is investigating the matter.

    In 2004 for the first time Enga Governer Hon. Peter Ipatas raised the issue of killing armless villagers by Barrick security guards at the floor of parliament and some two years after, the current Foreign Minister brought the same issue up.

    In 2006 the Government of Papua New Guinea did conducted an investigation headed by Dr. John Luluaki from University of Papua New Guinea, and Hon. Philip Kikala was the deputy chairman of that committee. That Porgera Investigation Committee Report has never been made public or tabled in Parliament. In 2009 the Government of Norway divested 230 million Canadian dollars after finding Barrick”™s discharge of tailings direct into the environment was irreversible to damages caused at the Porgera mine site. On 7th April 2010 the National Court in Wabag convicted a Barrick security guard for murder and dismissed the convict”™s grounds of self-defense.

    From that conviction the court never found the usual Barrick response to allegations of killings at the Porgera mine site was on self defense or any excuse for that matter. What about more than 32 killings suppose law had taken its course?

    A group of experts from University of Harvard USA, New York State University USA and University of Alaska have testified before the Canadian House of Commons Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs about the human rights abuses and environmental violation at the Porgera mine site. These groups of people from reputable institutions in North America conducted their independent investigation on our request and not otherwise claimed by Hon. Kikala. At all times, Hon. Kikala knew well and his superise out burst desires a lot of explanation to the people.

    In addition to these investigated testimonies and court rulings, the Porgera Landowners Association presented a petition to the National Government of Papua New Guinea last September 2009 raising the same issues of resettlement and human rights abuses. The government has allowed the petition to lay flat since.

    Based on the established facts, Barrick must not continue to deny and use Hon. Kikala while the PNG government must not play a cheap politics with tread of protest note and prosecute villagers who speak out.

    The issue of resettlement and human rights abuses is over-due and needs to be urgently addressed. The impacts from the mine operation over 20 years is so enormous that these issues need to be adequately dealt with rather than, play with power and money as the yard stick to take cover. Lives of people are at steak as a result of bad mining practices and far below best international standards.

    Barrick and PNG government cannot take cover under law and order problems to force evict landowners who otherwise deserved to be resettled. Amnesty International did a great job to produce a report after thorough investigation and that report compels the government and Barrick act. Yet, Barrick and the government are seen to be above the law with defying of a National Court Order on force evictions. The court orders Barrick not to accommodate and fid state security personnel”™s. The state to provide relief with food, shelter etc. It”™s over a year and the order is not being honored.

    Thus we appreciate the rights to foreign investors doing business in extractive industries in remote setting through out the country and on the other hand, companies like Barrick must respect the rules of host communities and uphold international best practice standard as preached to be practiced in Porgera but not otherwise.

    The Porgera delegations travel to Canada was not an easy right as claimed by the Hon. Member. The delegation spoke at various forums including with members of House of Commons speaking out the truth about the continuous human rights and environmental rights violations by one of Canadian company”™s. These issue a serious and needs immediate attention being the reason behind the four villagers in Canada and not trying to squeeze some easy money out of Barrick with fabricated stories.

    It is now a challenge to the current PNG government to due diligently addresses the issues at Porgera once and for all with the stakeholders. The parliament that Hon. Kikala stood up and spoke and for the Foreign Minister to write protest note is for the people and by the people. The very grassroots people who mandate that parliament are affected, not the company Hon. Kikala is trying to protect?

    Mark Tony Ekepa

    Chairman

    Cc: NBC
    Cc: ABC
    Cc: EMTV
    Cc: Post Courier
    Cc: The National
    Cc: The Toronto Star, Canada
    Cc: The Mail and Globe, Ottawa Canada
    Cc: The Sydney Morning Herald

  • Indigenous Leaders from Papua New Guinea Accuse Barrick Gold of Abuses

    Four members of the Ipili tribe of Porgera in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have travelled to Canada to demand that Barrick Gold address serious human rights abuses and environmental destruction related to Barrick’s Porgera Joint Venture gold mine. Two of the Ipili are landowners and also part-owners of the Porgera Joint Venture mine.

    Long-standing allegations of killings and rapes of civilians by security forces at Barrick’s PNG mine have been confirmed recently by the findings of a team of investigators from Harvard University who reported to Canadian Parliamentarians in 2009. “We have been trying to raise awareness of these killings and rapes by Barrick’s security forces for many years,” said Jethro Tulin of the Akali Tange Association, a local grassroots human rights organization. “Finally our allegations are being confirmed but Barrick is not supporting our calls for an investigation of these killings nor offering compensation to the families of those who have been killed or raped.”

    Last year Barrick supported a massive military action in villages inside Barrick’s mine lease area. This military crack-down led to the forcible eviction of many citizens and the burning down of some 300 of their homes. “My house was burned down,” said Mark Ekepa, chairman of the Porgera Landowners Association and part-owner of the mine. “Barrick was complicit in the actions of the police and military and should be actively calling for an investigation as Amnesty International has recommended in its report of the house burnings.”

    In 2009, the Norwegian Government divested its Pension Fund of shares in Barrick Gold as a result of findings by the fund of massive environmental damage downstream from the mine caused by the dumping of toxic mine waste into the local 800-kilometre long river system. “Our river system has been severely contaminated and is no longer safe for drinking water or for harvesting food,” said Jeffery Simon, a member of the Akali Tange Association. “This is causing a lot of hardship for villagers who rely on the rivers.”

    Contamination of local water sources, lack of available land for food production, and unsafe living conditions of villagers living within the mine lease area have all become untenable. “We have made it clear to Barrick many times, most recently in our meeting with Barrick last week in Toronto, that all residents in the mine lease area must be resettled according to international standards,” said Anga Atalu, one of the landowners living  in the mine lease area, “but Barrick is refusing our request.”

    “The situation at the Porgera Joint Venture Mine  in terms of environmental destruction and human rights abuses in which Barrick is alleged to be complicit is only possible because the Papua New Guinea government is weak and not doing its job to protect its citizens and its environment” said Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada. “This is a common problem in developing countries and the effective impunity of Canadian companies in these situations can only be addressed by legislation, like Bill C-300, that would allow these citizens of Papua New Guinea to file a complaint and seek sanction in Canada for the abuses they are suffering.”

    Contacts:

    Mark Ekepa, Chairman, Porgera Landowners Association: emarktony(at)gmail.com
    Jethro Tulin, Executive Officer, Akali Tange Association: jctulin(at)gmail.com (647) 669-4529 (cell)
    Catherine Coumans, MiningWatch Canada: catherine(at)miningwatch.ca (613) 569-3439

  • Statement of Mark Ekepa, Chairman of the Porgera Landowners Association at Barrick”™s Annual General Meeting

    My name is Mark Ekepa . I have come from Papua New Guinea with my fellow Ipili to speak at this meeting. I hold a proxy from Mr. David Wurfel.

    I am the chairman of the Porgera Landowners Association. I represent the traditional owners of the land that is now affected by Barrick”™s Porgera Joint Venture mine. But more than that, I and my fellow landowners are part-owners of this mine ““ I represent Barrick”™s partners in the joint venture. And I am here to tell you all that this mine has brought us massive environmental devastation and gross violations of the human rights of the people of Porgera. (more…)

  • Amnesty report on forced evictions near Porgera mine

    Between April and July 2009, police officers in Papua New Guinea illegally and forcibly evicted people from their homes alongside one of the biggest mines in Papua New Guinea, the Porgera gold mine.

    People fled as their homes were burned by police. In some cases police assaulted and threatened people with firearms. One woman, a mine employee, said that while she was nursing her small child in her arms, a police officer hit her on the shoulder with a rifle butt when she hesitated to leave her house, pointed the gun at her and threatened her. Another resident said that when he refused to leave, the police tried to lock him in his house and set fire to it while he was inside.
    Read full Amnesty report “Undermining Rights: Forced evictions and police brutality around the Porgera gold mine, Papua New Guinea“.

    Read statement from the Porgera Landowners Association in reaction to the Amnesty Report.

  • Porgera Special Mining Lease (SML) Landowners Association Statement on Amnesty International Report

    Porgera SML Landowners Association (PLOA) is a duly incorporated organization under the laws of Papua New Guinea (PNG) by seven (7) major indigenous land owning clans represented by 25 Agent Committees from where the Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) Barrick gold mine is located in the central highlands of PNG.

    PLOA takes the first opportunity to welcome the Amnesty International (AI) report that tells the truth about police violence and forced evictions occurred during a Papua New Guinea police deployment in what has been purported to restore law and order in Porgera Enga Province Papua New Guinea between April and June 2009.

    The PLOA at every stage of the mines operation demanded through PJV Barrick and the PNG government for resettlements of over 5000 plus indigenous landowners out of the SML area. However, the calls for resettlement have fallen into deaf hears over times and the landowners have been forced to live inside the SML like squatters on our own land on manmade islands in the highlands of PNG.

    PJV Barrick purports to claim that the company is “committed to protecting human rights and operating in alignment with the voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.” The PLOA unequivocally dismisses the proclamation. Previous case records of PJV Barrick tells a totally different story that in 2008, the Norway Government Global Pension Fund, one of the largest global pension funds in Europe divested 230 million Canadian Dollars  from Barrick Gold International and delisted from its investment portfolio as a result of de-charging life tailings into Porgera-Lagaip Strickland river system harming the environment. In 2007 PJV Barrick admitted through the Ottawa Citizen News paper in Canada that 8 people were killed at the Porgera mine site for somewhat unfound reasons. The PNG government is fully aware about the human rights abuses and the matter has been reported with the United Nations Special Rapporator on Human Rights and the Canadian government which is still an ongoing matter for justice.

    PLOA dismisses the simple reasoning of deterioration law and order as the justified excuse to deploy police. It”™s quite easy to make shallow assertion that the complexity of social and law and other challenges in Porgera. These complexities are makings of cash for land deals under pretext of development to extract gold that has turned upside down life of thousand indigenous people that where once in peace.

    PJV Barrick in various statements released dated February 2, 2010 had aggressively defended the deployment of police acting like the government of the independent state of Papua New Guinea which undermines and contradicts the proclamation that”committed to protecting human rights and operating in alignment with Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. In contrast, a multi international company acting like a state desires a lot more than just for the interest of public safety. To put it into context, the whole hidden motive behind the police deployment was to systematically force evict all the villages within the SML area to make way to extend the mines operation. In fact PJV Barrick has announced late 2009 that the mine life has been extended by another 20 years. Therein that the pretext of deteriorating law and order is just a smoked screen.

    Re-calling back, the news about force eviction at the Porgera mine site was first broke at the Barrick Shareholders meeting in Toronto on 29th April, 2009 and AI took the news and made a bold move to conduct an independent investigation.

    Whereas, the report just tells what when wrong and it”™s not motivated by political and financial reasons for local benefits. It”™s about force destruction of humanity in one of the least developed corners of PNG under PJV Barrick and police state, and globally it”™s a international concern and issue.

    Therefore, PLOA calls on the Government of Papua New Guinea, Government of Canada and PJV Barrick to urgently take ownership and responsibility to adequately address the recommendations outlined in the AI report.

    Mark T. Ekepa

    Chairman

    Porgera SML Landowners Association

  • Jethro Tulin’s testimony read to Barrick shareholders at their 2009 Annual General Meeting

    Jethro Tulin’s testimony read to Barrick shareholders at their 2009 Annual General Meeting

    April 29th, 2009
    My name is Jethro Tulin and I hold a proxy from Mr. David Wurfel.

    Mr. Munk, I am an indigenous Ipili from the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. I have traveled half way across the world to speak out against the grave human rights and environmental conditions my people face because of your Porgera mine. I came to this meeting last year as well, telling your shareholders and Barrick’s Board of Directors about the situation in Porgera, but all questions from shareholders were censored from Barrick’s webcast of the meeting.

    Since I spoke at this meeting last year, there have been 5 more killings of indigenous community members by your security guards and more women have been raped by your security guards. These issues are now being investigated by the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings at the United Nations.

    The toxic waste you continue to dump into our 800 kilometer long river system (which would be illegal in Canada) has caused the Norwegian Government to divest its pension fund from more than 230 million Canadian dollars worth of shares in Barrick Gold and to report that its decision was based on its “assessment that investing in the company entails an unacceptable risk of the Fund contributing to serious environmental damage.”

    Now, under the influence of your company, the Papua New Guinea government has imposed a virtual State of Emergency in Porgera. When I came to Canada last week I received reports from Porgera that landowners who have spoken out against your mine are now being targeted. This week, and while I am standing here before you, their houses are being burnt down and they are fleeing for fear of their life.

    Days after your Annual Meeting last year I met with your Senior executives Peter Sinclair and Vince Borg, and a commitment was made to establish dialogue and find a way to address the issues. But this dialogue has never taken place. Instead the human rights and environmental abuses we have been suffering for many years have continued.

    Mr. Munk, your mine has destroyed our land, our water, our safety and our ability to feed ourselves. We know that we can no longer live on our ancestral land. We know that we must leave our place so that our children can have a future. But rather than offer us fair terms for our relocation you are calling for military action and our houses and lands are being torched.

    My questions for you, Mr. Munk, are on behalf of the Porgera Alliance, a coalition of human rights activists and Porgera landowners:

    1. Will Barrick immediately call on the government of Papua New Guinea to stop the burning of houses and the threats against landowners being perpetrated by its mobile forces and platoons against Porgerans on your mine”™s Special Mine Lease Area?

    2. Will Barrick agree to move the more than 5,000 families who live within your mine lease area in a way that is fair and will provide us an opportunity to be healthy, to feed our families, and to educate our children?

    3. Will Barrick finally pay fair compensation to the families who have lost their loved ones to the guns of your security forces, to the rape victims, to the families who have lost members in your open pit and in the waste dumps and who have drowned in your river of tailings?

    4. Will Barrick finally carry out the recommendations of the 1996 CSIRO report and stop dumping mine waste into our river?

  • Reckless Killings at Porgera Gold Mine Site

    The Akali Tange Association makes this press release after continuous reckless killings of local indigenous peoples in and around the Porgera mine gold mine site. The latest victim to fall in the hands of Barrick”™s Porgera security guards was 15 year old Gipson Umbi from Weigima village, located just few metres from the open pit. Our investigations have established that at around 7.00pm, Barrick security guards open fired on the local villages using high powered assault raffles, M16 and shot guns on the harmless villages. The reckless use of excessive force has resulted in instant shot to death of the late Gipson Umbi. In the last few weeks, three more locals have been recorded death under mysteries circumstances at the mine site. The death toll connected to Porgera mine operations has now gone beyond an excusable level, more than 60 have death so far and something urgent needs to be done by the National government and Barrick.

    It is not the question of illegal or legal, the situation on the ground is reckless use of excessive force against harmless indigenous peoples by agents of a multi international company. Every inch of crimes committed at the Porgera mine site is aided and abided by Barrrick. Barrick is well known for framing stories in this kind of situation by excusing for self defence related to their brand of so published propaganda, illegal mining by locals. There is no definition for that word is not found in any dictionary nor a confident court of law has set a case law. Barrick is fully responsible for what”™s going wrong at Porgera; Barrick is liable for all the crimes against harmless local”™s peoples.

    The National Government and Barrick Gold Corporation are fully aware about the acute situation on the ground in Porgera and yet pretend they know little or take cover by passing the buck on each other. The indigenous local communities in Porgera and around Enga a now fat up with the monkey tricks. We have now reached a point where one more life lost under any circumstance at the Porgera mine site will not be tolerated. Therefore, we call on the company to act immediately to address the situation and allow the law to deal with the person responsible for pressing the trigger.

    ______________________
    Jethro C. Tulin
    Public & Chief Executive Officer
    Akali Tange Association Inc &
    Porgera Alliance

  • Presentation by Mark Ekepa at the Canadian Parliament Press Gallary 12th May 2008

    My name is Mark Ekepa. I have come from Papua New Guinea to speak to the Canadian people and the Canadian government about the problems the indigenous people in my community are facing because of the reckless mining operations of Barrick Gold”™s Porgera Joint Venture mine.

    I am the Chairman of the Porgera Landowners Association. I represent the traditional landowners in Porgera where the Porgera Joint Venture mine has operated since 1990.

    I am here to tell you why we cannot be safe and healthy in our ancestral land anymore.

    Barrick”™s Porgera mine is disposing of millions of tons of toxic tailings (mine waste) and mountains of waste rock directly into our nearby 800 km-long river system. Barrick calls this “riverine tailings disposal.” We call it the permanent contamination of our river system. We know that this practice is illegal in Canada so we want to know why Barrick is allowed to do this to our river and nearby communities in Papua New Guinea. We used to use the river for drinking water, for food, for transportation. Now it is very dangerous. There have been consultants”™ reports since 1996 that have warned of heavy metal contamination, in particular arsenic, lead, silver, and cadmium. Our river has become a health hazard.

    Also, the mine is expanding in the middle of our community and in a mountainous area. It is continuously encroaching on our homes. There is little to keep people out of the mine, or away from the dangers of its mountainous rock waste dumps, and rivers of mine tailings. We have documented many cases of people, including children, falling into the open pit, being buried by rock slides on the waste dumps and drowning during flooding in rivers of tailings. Although Barrick has recently installed a fence around the open pit itself, the pit, the waste dumps and the rivers of tailings remain accessible to the people.

    Also, as the open pit has expanded and its massive waste rock dumps have grown, we have lost most of our spaces for “gardens.” This is where we grow our subsistence foods. But we have had to relocate to steeper areas where we cannot farm for our daily food.

    Given all of these issues ““ as well as other human rights concerns that Jethro Tulin will tell you about –  is no longer safe for us to remain on our ancestral land.

    Many of the 10,000 indigenous peoples living within the mine lease area now want to be relocated. But Barrick seems to be reluctant to undertake this task. We know that Barrick has hired consultants to review the relocation possibilities but little information about the findings of these consultants is being shared by Barrick. At Barrick”™s Annual Genial Meeting on May 6th in Toronto we were told by Patrick Garver that only a few families would be moved.

    This is unacceptable. Barrick has destroyed our land, our water, our safety and our ability to feed ourselves. We know that we can no longer live on our ancestral land. We know that we must leave our place so that our children can have a future. We call on Barrick and on the Canadian government to please help make the relocation of our people possible.

    Thank You

  • Jethro Tulin”™s testimony read to Barrick shareholders at their 2008 Annual General Meeting

    Jethro Tulin gave this presentation at Barrick’s Annual General Meeting in Toronto, Canada on May 6, 2008. The following segment was cut from the Barrick’s webcast of the event, immediately following the meeting.

    My name is Jethro Tulin and I hold a proxy from Mr. David Wurfel.

    Mr.  Munk,  I  am an indigenous  Ipili  from the  Highlands  of  Papua  New Guinea.  I have travelled half way across the world, together with Mark Ekepa, Chairman of the Porgera Landowners Association and Anga Atalu, Secretary of the Porgera Landowners Association to speak out  against  the grave conditions my people face because of your Porgera mine.

    When you came to our place you offered us cash-for-land deals that have turned our traditions upside-down.

    Your mine has destroyed our ancestral land, our sacred places, and our gardens, which we need to feed ourselves. You dump your mine waste directly into our river system contaminating 600 km of river all the way to the sea.  You do this, even though you know that it is illegal to dump your waste into rivers in Canada.

    As you know, our people have been pushed to living on the very edges of your open pit and very close to your massive piles of waste rock. Our houses are so close to the mine pit and to your mountainous waste dumps that our people, especially our children, are always in grave danger of falling into the pit. As you know, many of my people have already lost their lives this way. Others have been swept away and drowned when they have tried to cross the river of mine waste because there are no safe bridges across.

    Finally, as you know, your security guards have been shooting and killing our people and raping, even gang-raping, our women with impunity for years now. This issue has now been raised with the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings at the United Nations.

    Mr. Munk, you have destroyed our land, our water, our safety and our ability to feed ourselves. We know that we can no longer live on our ancestral land. We know that we must leave our place so that our children can have a future. But now your company – Barrick – is refusing to offer us fair terms for our relocation.

    My questions for you, Mr. Munk, are:

    1. When will Barrick agree to move the more than 5,000 families who live within your mine lease in a way that is fair and will provide us an opportunity to be healthy, to feed our families, and to educate our children?

    2. When will Barrick finally pay fair compensation to the families who have lost their loved ones to the guns of your security forces, to the rape victims, to the families who have lost members in your open pit and in the waste dumps and who have drowned in your river of  tailings?

    3. When will Barrick finally carry out the recommendations of the 1996 CSIRO report that was commissioned by the mine management that recommended an end to the dumping of mine waste into our river? And when will Barrick agree to an independent assessment of the metal levels in the river and the accumulation of metals in soils and biota in the river and surrounding areas downstream from the mine? And when will Barrick provide compensation to the people who have been damaged by your mine waste in the river?

    For more information contact: Jethro Tulin ““ 1-310-848-7543   or   416-710-5430
    www.porgeraalliance.net

  • Letter to Barrick Management on behalf of Porgera Landowners Association

    Toronto, CANADA

    For the attention of Mr. Greg Wilkins and the board of Barrick Gold:

    We are indigenous  Ipili  from the  Highlands  of  Papua  New Guinea.  We have travelled half way across the world, to speak out  against  the grave issues our people face because of your Porgera mine.  “¨ “¨When you came to our place you offered us cash-for-land deals that have turned our traditions upside-down. “¨ “¨Your mine has destroyed our ancestral land, our sacred places, environments pollutted and our gardens, which we need to feed ourselves. You dump your mine waste directly into our river system contaminating 600 km of river all the way to the sea.  You do this, even though you know that it is illegal to dump your waste into rivers in Canada. “¨ “¨As you know, our people have been pushed to living on the very edges of your open pit and very close to your massive piles of waste rock. Our houses are so close to the mine pit and to your mountainous waste dumps that our people, especially our children, are always in grave danger of falling into the pit. As you know, many of our people have already lost their lives this way. Others have been swept away and drowned when they have tried to cross the river of mine waste because there are no safe bridges across.

    We thought that it was strange that you stated at the Annual General meeting yesterday that you had built infrastructure at your mine sites for surrounding communities. To date, we have seen no tangible or sustainable developments on account of the Porgera Mine.”¨ “¨Finally, as you know, your security guards have been shooting and killing our people and raping, even gang-raping, our women with impunity for years now. This issue has now been raised with the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings at the United Nations. “¨ “¨You have destroyed our land, our water, our safety and our ability to feed ourselves. We know that we can no longer live on our ancestral land. We know that we must leave our place so that our children can have a future. But now your company – Barrick – is refusing to offer us fair terms for our resettlement.

    As a matter of urgency, we request that:

    1. Barrick agree to resettle the more than 5,000 families who live within your mine lease in a way that is fair and will provide us an opportunity to be healthy, to feed our families, and to educate our children.

    2. Barrick finally pay fair compensation to the families who have lost their loved ones to the guns of your security forces, to the rape victims, to the families who have lost members in your open pit and in the waste dumps and who have drowned in your river of tailings.

    3. Barrick finally carry out the recommendations of the 1996 CSIRO report that was commissioned by the mine management that recommended an end to the dumping of mine waste into our river.

    4. Barrick review the fly-in, fly-out arrangement for mine employees, and revive the agreement that was signed in January, 2001 with the landowners, the State of Papua New Guinea, the Enga Provincial government and Porgera Joint Venture, which was subsequently suspended. The agreement has been suspended for almost four years.

    We suspect that the field managers at the Porgera site are telling you incorrect information about the impacts that your mine has had on affected communities and expect your immediate action now that these issues have been brought to your direct attention.

    On behalf of the Porgera Landowners Association and the Akali Tange Association,
    Mark Ekepa
    Chairman, Porgera Landowners Association