Bogotá, December 23, 2022
The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries Extractive Industries presents to the public the report on the mining regulatory framework for Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) in Colombia and its link with international Transparency criteria., a legal and political analysis document with a gender and citizen participation approach for the understanding of ASM in the country. This document was developed by Fundación Atabaque, within the framework of the activities of the action plan of the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) Subcommittee.
This document is based on more than seven years of experience of the Atabaque Foundation in the municipalities of Istmina, Condoto and Quibdó and a judicious process of review and analysis of secondary sources, and aims to provide a global understanding of ASM in Colombia and its relationship and implementation of international standards and guidelines, based on the particular realities and contexts of the territories with mining vocation in the department of Chocó.
With this objective in mind, the authors present a series of reflections, explanations, clarifications and calls to action based on five thematic axes: artisanal mining (Chocó case), formality, human rights and international humanitarian law, gender, extortion, bribery and money laundering. Likewise, as the document progresses, readers will find an important cross-cutting analysis of the forms and scope of community participation in their territories.
This study shows that conflicts between the various actors involved in ASM are generated by the lack of a collective vision on economic, social and environmental development issues at the local, regional, national and transnational levels. On the other hand, governments have created legal and regulatory frameworks that have facilitated the access of multinationals to exploit non-renewable resources and that are far removed from the practices and interests of local communities. In this sense, the social and cultural values that are integrated into the mining practice in the various regions of the country are not represented in the standards and, in the case of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the reporting of data on social, economic, environmental and fiscal matters is still incipient.
Likewise, the document becomes a window that gradually reveals the threats, challenges, situations, and events that violate life, relations with the environment, and the capacity and opportunity for men and women to decide on their territories, their practices, and their own ways of shaping their daily lives.
The circulation of this type of study materials is valuable, as expressed by Marisol Gómez, co-author of this research, because […] it is seen as a window of opportunity to broaden the understanding of the role they play, the disposition they show and the challenges faced by ASM communities in the territories. Isabel Blandón, executive director of Fundación Atabaque, says that this document allows us to understand the wide range of meanings and representations that ASM has according to the territories where it coexists. [That is to say, we cannot understand it away from social and historical processes or incorporate it only as a purely economic activity, but it has a whole cultural, ethnic, relational, social, political and identity framework.
The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries promotes citizen participation and access to information in the different processes and value chains of the industry. This is done through the work of more than twenty social organizations and academic institutions from different regions of the country, which jointly carry out research, advocacy and citizen control activities regarding transparency in the extractive sector.
To consult the study visit: https://mesatransparenciaextractivas.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MAPE-en-EITI.pdf
For more information, please write to: secretariatecnica@transparenciacolombia.org.co
