Illegal mining at Chinese Landing has been in the news. A report in SN on Thursday last, stated that the Village Council said that it never asked the government to stop all mining on its lands as some of its villagers earn their livelihoods by mining. Also, it does not approve of the government’s fact-finding mission. Chinese Landing’s complaint to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is that armed, outside miners are illegally on Wayne Vieira’s concession which is within Amerindian lands and that they feel unsafe. The IACHR, on a prima facie basis, requested the government to take steps to protect the life and integrity of the villagers, consult and agree on measures to be adopted and report on the actions taken to investigate the events. This last recommendation to ‘investigate’ appears to be the basis of the fact-finding mission by the government. The Chinese Landing Village Council, who took their claims to the IACHR, objects to the cessation of mining and the fact-finding mission by the Government, as requested by IACHR. Why?
