Govt submits report to IACHR on Chinese Landing findings

The report on Government’s fact-finding mission to investigate the mining complaints at Chinese Landing, Region One (Barima-Waini) has been completed and submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed at his press conference on Thursday that the findings will be made public at a later time.
The Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Ministry, amid aid precautionary measures issued to Guyana on July 21 by the IACHR, had taken a decision to stop all mining in Chinese Landing temporarily to allow for a more conducive environment to address the concerns of the community.
It was reiterated that the fact-finding mission was being implanted to effectively implement requests from the IACHR for the Government of Guyana to report on the actions taken to investigate the events that led up to the adoption of precautionary measure.
Consequently, the Vice President told media operatives, “The report has been completed. It has been sent to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. That report, Minister [Gail] Teixeira said, will be made public shortly. Then you will see the findings of the report and how they arrived at those findings and what the formal response of the Government is.”
The Chinese Landing issue stemmed from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) granting a mining permit, sometime in the 1990s, to a miner/company to operate within the boundaries of the village’s titled land. However, the Indigenous community has been up in arms over this approval, which they said did not have the consent of the Village Council.
But when the GGMC had taken steps to issue a Cease Work Order (CWO) to the entity, the case had been taken to the High Court, which ruled in favour of the miner/company.
The High Court’s decision was subsequently overturned by the Court of Appeal. However, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) reversed this in 2017.
Chinese Landing, through lobbying bodies, subsequently moved internationally to seek human rights intervention.
Consequently, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) recently issued Resolution 41/2023, through which it granted precautionary measures in favour of members of the Indigenous Carib Community of Chinese Landing, who it said are currently at “serious, urgent risk of suffering irreparable harm to their human rights”.
Following the issuance of the IACHR Resolution, the Guyana Government promised to work with the Chinese Landing residents and indicated that a team would soon be sent into the community to meet with them.

Halted
In August, the Government announced that all mining operations at Chinese Landing were temporarily halted.  This decision, it said, was as a direct result of the ongoing communication between the Government of Guyana through the Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira and the Chinese Landing Village Council through Toshao Fernandes.
To implement this, a team from the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission were deployed to put this decision into effect and to ensure that there was peaceful cessation to all mining.
In light of this, the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) issued calls for investigations to be launched into years of unauthorised mining and other illegalities including tax evasion at Chinese Landing.
According to the GGDMA, the mining permit holder was unlawfully deprived of his right to earn a livelihood while illegality ran amuck on the lands for more than 12 years. It noted that the GGMC has failed to do its job, resulting in environmental damage.
“…unregulated mining resulting in the current condition of Chinese Landing is a direct result of this negligence/incompetence. The GGDMA calls for an immediate stop to the harassment of legal miners and for a full commitment from the regulatory agencies administering the mining sector to adhere to Guyana’s highest court. The legal property holder must be allowed to pursue his constitutional right to earn a living and not be vilified, he has legally fought long and hard for this right,” the Association had stated. (G12)