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Oxfam Australia's Mining Ombudsman Shanta Martin attended the APEC Ministers Responsible for Mining forum held in Perth in February 2007. Oxfam lobbied for a halt to the dumping of mine waste into water systems. Photo: OxfamAUS
The Mining Ombudsman project
Over the past few decades, the Australian mining industry has become more active in developing countries where it is increasingly affecting poor and vulnerable communities.
Many communities have reported human rights violations, environmental degradation and poverty as a result of these mining operations yet have no official outlet for their grievances or the means to seek redress.
Oxfam Australia attempts to address this accountability gap though our Mining Ombudsman project which:
- Helps people from local and indigenous communities whose human rights are threatened by the operations of Australia-based mining companies
- Helps people who are, or might be, affected by a mining operation to understand their rights under international law
- Helps ensure that the Australian mining industry operates in such a way that the rights of local and indigenous communities affected by mining are better protected
- Demonstrates the need for an official independent industry complaints mechanism within Australia
- Demonstrates the need for enforceable, transparent and binding extraterritorial controls that require Australian mining companies – wherever they operate – to adhere to universal human rights standards
The Mining Ombudsman process
The Mining Ombudsman generally takes up a case on the request of a community organisation, checking all claims through site investigations and consulting with the community before taking action.
We follow a formal process (PDF 31k) which aims to bring together the views of communities, companies and governments to establish a clear picture of the case.
Find out more
- The Mining Ombudsman's guiding principles for an effective complaints mechanism (3.5MB PDF)
- The Mining Ombudsman's benchmarks for the mining industry (PDF 54KB)
- The concept of free, prior and informed consent
- This principle states that individuals and communities should be informed – in appropriate, accessible language – about projects that might take place on their land. It also guarantees that they are given the opportunity to give, withhold or negotiate land use and related issues.