MUTARE– A local youth organization promoting transparent and sustainable administration of natural resources has landed a prestigious award, for its innovative digital solutions offering assistance to artisanal miners and their service providers.
Green Governance Zimbabwe Trust, came third in the Innovating Justice Challenge 2020 an annual innovation challenge run by Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL)-, pitting justice-focused start-ups in Africa, the Middle East and the Ukraine.
Legal4ArtisanalMining (Legal4ASM) is Green Governance Zimbabwe Trust’s platform offering legal assistance to artisanal miners and their service providers to get redress and recourse in an accessible, affordable and user-friendly service placed third.
Frank Mphahlo, director Green Governance said the artisanal mining sector despite experiencing growth remains unregulated and vulnerable to corruption, human rights abuses and injustice for miners and small mining companies.
He said the lack of legal knowledge and representation by artisanal and small-scale miners make them vulnerable to injustices such as dispossession of mining claims, arbitrary arrests and entering into unfair agreements.
“Our initiative takes a bottom up approach towards ensuring that the rights of artisanal and small-scale miners are protected.
“Whilst efforts to formalize and regularize their operations should still be pursued, it is the current abuses they face which we seek to address affording them a convenient and accessible legal service,” said Mphahlo.
With the initial rollout also recording statistics from diverse legal challenges including contracting conflicts, dispossession of mining claims, arbitrary arrest and unfair fining, more digital aids will be added said Mphahlo.
Since September 2019, Legal4ArtisanalMining has recorded 61 complaints from 59 people (46 Male: 13 Female) involving conflict between artisanal miners, mining authorities and mining companies.
“This intervention mitigates incidences of violation of the rights of ASMers through legal means and mediation of conflict between ASMers and law enforcement units, mining authorities and mining investors.
“Within the next 5 months, we intend to digitize its services by establishing a Chatbot so as to expand its reach to 40 people per month and improve its effectiveness,” he said.
The Artisanal and Small-Scale (ASM) mining sector is growing in leaps, according to Zimbabwe Miners Federations (ZMF) the largest national body for small scale miners, at least two million are involved, 500 000 directly.
ASM has become a major source of gold production- Zimbabwe’s most lucrative source of income and foreign currency, gold deliveries from the sector exceeded those from large-scale producers in 2018.
Green Governance Trust also serves as ‘a hub for information, providing an outlet and platform for debate and discussion for communities, policy makers and other interested stakeholders on environmental issues.’
HiiL, is a Netherlands-based NGO, which uses data and technology to work towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16 of peace, justice and strong institutions by making high-quality law services accessible to all.
It was established in 2005 and offers other services such as the Justice Needs and Satisfaction Survey conducted in more than 18 countries, measuring citizens’ satisfaction with their respective justice systems.
