1 November 2020

In central Thailand's Phichit and Phetchabun provinces, over 6,000 villagers are severely affected by the goldmining operations of Akara Resources Public Company Limited, a Thai subsidiary of the Australian company Kingsgate Consolidated Limited. [...]

[...]

Violation of communities’ right to safe and clean water

[...] Due to the contamination of their water sources, villagers were unable to continue farming and could no longer consume home-grown crops.

[...]

Violation of the communities’ right to the highest standard of attainable health

The impact of Akara’s operations was devastating to the villagers, their environment, and their health. Air and noise pollution led to lack of sleep, skin diseases, blurred vision, ear diseases, and breathing difficulties. Water contamination also led to dry throat, cough, rash, lung and respiratory diseases, numbness, reduced strength, and heightened risk of having blood, skin, and liver cancer. Pregnant women and children are particularly vulnerable to these health issues. Besides the damage to people's physical health, community members also experienced mental health issues with some suffering from neurosis and depression due to the knowledge of having toxic chemical substances in their bodies. These numerous health issues meant villagers had to visit clinics and hospitals frequently, for which they bore the expense of transport and treatment themselves.

Violation of the communities’ right to work

Resulting from the polluted natural resources and the environment, particularly the contaminated groundwater, farmers were no longer able to cultivate their lands and thus lost their main source of income. [...]

[...]

Violation of communities’ right to freedom of expression and assembly & Judicial Harassment to censor human rights defenders

[...] instead of receiving support, they were threatened, intimidated, judicially harassed, and even imprisoned. The community members who spoke out were targeted to discourage them from continuing their fight against the company, and deplete their financial resources. In particularly, the SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) cases led to self-censorship of communities out of fear of being prosecuted.

[...]