Clifford Chance

Human Rights and International Mining Disputes

2 July 2019

The mining industry can have positive, long-term beneficial effects generating economic and social benefits for local communities and wider society. Equally, it is necessarily accompanied by a high risk of adverse impacts on human rights. Mining operations are complex, and managing the associated risks is challenging, but failing to do so effectively increases the potential for disputes. In Human Rights and International Mining Disputes, Rae Lindsay and Anna Kirkpatrick discuss the ways in which human rights issues typically arise in mining projects, assess recent efforts by the mining industry to address those issues – spurred by stakeholder pressures and legislative developments – and consider the variety of dispute resolution methods that are utilised to seek remedy against businesses for alleged human rights harms associated with mining operations. Throughout the chapter, they consider the key role played by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP), the global authoritative standard on business and human rights, in framing the way in which disputes arise in the sector.

This chapter is an extract from the first edition of GAR’s The Guide to Mining Arbitrations, first published in July 2019. The whole publication is available here.

Download PDF