Time to Stop Illegal, Violence-Abetting Use of Gold
At a time when the demand for gold is increasing at world level, the violence involved in gold grabs is also increasing to the extent that many glittering gold bars can be found to be tainted with the blood of innocent people
At a time when the demand for gold is increasing at world level, the violence involved in gold grabs is also increasing to the extent that many glittering gold bars can be found to be tainted with the blood of innocent people if the entire history of the origin of gold mineral to the refining site and beyond this is traced.
Take for example the large-scale gold mining being done using labor-intensive artisanal methods in Sudan. Many of these areas are now under the rebel para military forces which are fighting the main government forces. These militias force the miners to work in exploitative conditions using hazardous methods and materials.
However, those doing this work face another risk too. The main government forces are likely to launch air raids at their work-site as this gold smuggling is known to be a main source of funds to buy weapons for the forces fighting against the main government army.
In addition, other persons will be needed for the high risk work of smuggling this crude gold to the bigger refineries, located most probably in the UAE, in or around Dubai, where these will be refined into glittering gold bars and this will make it impossible to trace the origin of this gold.
Meanwhile, the government side will also mine its share of the gold in the area dominated by it, using more mechanized methods, and this too is likely to find its way to similar or perhaps even the same refineries. The government side in the present conditions of a civil war is also quite likely to use a big share of the gold related earnings to buy more weapons to fight the civil war.
Hence, instead of the national wealth of the country in the form of such a precious metal as gold being used to meet the needs of its people, this is being used to buy highly destructive weapons which are killing a large number of people of the country every day.
At the same time, the UAE has been accused by the Sudan government authorities of helping and supplying weapons to the militia, which in turn has been accused of great cruelties, and of helping the rebel militias for selfish reasons including continuing to get a steady and substantial supply of crude gold at a relatively lower price.
Burkina Faso is another country which has extensive gold deposits but corruption relating to the precious metal has created several problems.
In fact, one coup was reported to have been related to the nationalization of some gold mines, earlier being controlled by foreign interests or used to benefit mainly them.
Here, the trend has been towards hasty mechanization which has brought different types of hazards and risks. The lure of gold leads to exploration in very wide areas disrupting traditional livelihoods here.
In Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) the mining of gold has led to even greater problems including threats of civil war and war with a foreign country. It is widely alleged that Rwanda has been cornering a significant part of the gold mined from DRC with the help of rebel groups like M23 allied to it. It has been reported often that the exports of gold from Rwanda are much higher than what can be based on its own deposits.
Hence, it is alleged that these are being relentlessly sourced from those DRC mines which are in the region controlled by rebel groups particularly M23. This helps both Rwanda elites and M23 leaders to earn huge illegal profits which can be used to keep the militias going and providing them more weapons. Due to the high profits associated with such operations, other militias and countries may also be attracted to this, leading to more violence.
Thus, at various stages of mining and smuggling of gold there is threat of violence which can claims the lives of ordinary people ( or cause serious injuries to them). Many of the people affected are those who just happen to live in dangerous areas or on high risk routes, or else have been forced to work for the big illegal operators or militias without wanting to do so.
The weapons purchased with gold profits in turn also cause a large number of deaths. It is not just a matter of various warring factions using gold to their advantage, it is a question also of feuds and conflicts getting started in order to gain higher control over gold, and these conflicts then gather a strength of their own, often abetted by more resourceful foreign interests.
Well-planned efforts to stop such illegal and violence-abetting use of gold are needed, so that the major share of the earnings from this precious metal can be used instead for the betterment of the condition of ordinary people in the countries where these gold deposits are located.
[The writer, Bharat Dogra, is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Man over Machine, Planet in Peril and A Day in 2071.]
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