Home > Gender Justice in Mining and Licit/Illicit Financial Flows in Africa Statement Africa Mining Vision and ECOWAS Minerals Development Policy
Gender Justice in
Mining and Licit/Illicit Financial Flows in Africa
Statement
Africa Mining Vision
and ECOWAS Minerals Development Policy
3-7 November, Accra, Ghana
We are feminist activists and allies gathered at the ‘Policy Dialogue on the African Mining Vision and ECOWAS Mining Development Plan’ and ‘Policy Strategy Workshop on Illicit Financial Flows and Africa’ held on November, 6-7 and 10-12, 2014 by Third World Network-Africa. Based on recent economic and political trends in Africa, as well as specific discussions at these two workshops with experts including policy makers, civil society organisations and trade unions, we offer the following analyses and targeted proposals.
Africa has been marked
by higher mineral commodity prices largely fed by demand from China,
the workshop of the world, which shows signs of slowing growth. To date
Africa’s development is underpinned by attracting foreign direct investment
(FDI), especially in the mining sector. The focus of African economies,
on the export of raw materials and the import of processed goods, directly
undermines the wellbeing and livelihoods of most Africans, especially
women. Economic liberalisation has made our economies vulnerable to
external shocks, as shown during the recent global economic crisis.
We call for the structural transformation of African economies, especially
production relations, with emphasis on women’s work. Addressing Illicit
Financial Flows (IFFs) must be part of this.
Efforts to stem IFFs
predominantly focus on halting capital flight and repatriating capital
to African states. In the context of widespread social and gender inequity,
deepening poverty, multiple crises and weak social infrastructure, a
broadened and refocused discourse on IFFs is necessary. In addition
to capital flight, African development is further undermined because
surplus derived from extractive industries in particular has not been
sufficiently reinvested in the domestic economy. Exorbitant profits
are harvested across the African continent at the expense of worker
wages, not least the wages of women. Additionally, Bilateral Investment
Treaties (BITs) usually include articles on transfers and appropriation
that allow investment companies to protect and repatriate their profits,
further constraining African states’ abilities to regulate transnational
corporations and to stem capital flight.
Strategies for structural transformation should develop and implement the following:
Generally, the working conditions of mine workers are insecure, unhealthy and unsafe, while artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM), 40-50% of whom are women, work in worse conditions. Persistent social and gender inequality breeds sexual and gender-based violence in societies at large, as well as in homes and workplaces.
We therefore make the following recommendations:
Mining operations,
whether small-scale, artisanal or large-scale, pollute the natural environment,
with both short- and long-term negative impacts. Mining companies use and
produce large quantities of toxic and dangerous substances that pollute
the ground, air and water sources, causing diseases and exacerbating
poverty. Voluntary initiatives to ensure transparency, such as the Extractives
Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the African Peer Review Mechanism
(APRM) have not effectively addressed these challenges.
Therefore we recommend that:
Multinationals, especially
mining companies are closely linked to illicit financial flows from
Africa, which have impeded the financing of local production and social
infrastructure. As a result, revenue from taxes, domestic investments
and wages for ordinary employees suffer when billions of dollars are
moved to tax havens. States compensate through regressive Value Added
Tax (VAT), which disproportionately disadvantages the most vulnerable,
especially poor women. Drastic cuts on health and education are also
imposed, where most women in the formal sector are employed, thereby
increasing the disproportionate burden of care work.
We therefore make the following recommendations:
The AMV and ECOWAS
Minerals Development Policy (EMDP) are key components of the structural
transformation agenda and combating illicit financial flows. We also
recognise challenges of implementation, including the omission of gender
equity.
Therefore, we recommend:
The following organisations endorse the statement:
Action Aid International
Agenda for Change (A4C), Kenya
Alternative Information and Development
Centre (AIDC), South Africa
Association Citoyenne de Défense des Intérêts Collectifs - Cameroun
Centre for Democracy and Development -West Africa
Centre for Trade Policy and Development, Zambia
Development Alternatives with Women in a New Era (DAWN)
Engender, South Africa
Environmental Rights Action, Nigeria
Inter Pares, Canada
Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), Ghana
Network from Movements for Justice and Development, Sierra Leone
Regions Refocus 2015
Social Change Research Unit, University of Johannesburg
Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI), Uganda
Tax Justice Network-Africa, Kenya
Zambia Tax Platform, Zambia
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