| 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:
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Tag: porgera joint venture
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Jethro Tulin’s testimony read to Barrick shareholders at their 2009 Annual General Meeting
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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