Advocates Redesign

Category: Guinea

  • Victory at the ECOWAS Court of Justice: Judges hold Guinea responsible for Zoghota Massacre

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    ABUJA, NIGERIA – 10 NOVEMBER 2020 – For over eight years, the people of Zoghota in southern Guinea have been seeking justice for the massacre that devastated their village. Today, they can finally celebrate a ruling from the regional ECOWAS Court of Justice declaring that Guinean security forces are responsible for the murder, arbitrary arrests, and torture of Zoghota’s citizens.

    Just after midnight on 4 August 2012, Guinean security forces entered the community, firing wildly. They killed six villagers, wounded several others, burned homes, and stole personal property. “They came at night, while the people were sleeping,” said Kpakilé Gnédawolo Kolié, the President of the community, who is also the leader of the collective of victims of the massacre. “We were woken up by the sound of bullets, and when people went outside to see what was happening, they gunned our fathers and brothers down.” Some villagers who were arrested during the attack were tortured by soldiers who cut them on their arms, necks, and wrists. Security forces arbitrarily arrested and tortured Zoghota residents before and after the massacre, as well.

    The attack was retaliation for a large-scale protest over employment practices and environmental destruction at the Zoghota iron ore mine owned by Vale-BSG Resources (VBG), an international mining conglomerate. During the protests, villagers from several of the communities surrounding the mine – led by the residents of Zoghota village – occupied the mine site and were accused of destroying company property.

    The massacre was never investigated by Guinean authorities, and security forces and the company
    provided conflicting explanations for the killings. Guinean human rights organization Les Mêmes Droits pour Tous (MDT) filed a criminal complaint against several security forces commanders in 2013, but the case never advanced. Most of the defendants refused to appear before a judge to answer for their actions, and the file was eventually transferred to a military tribunal, where it languished. The mining company’s responsibility was never fully investigated, despite clear evidence of their participation in the planning and execution of the attack.

    Represented by MDT and Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA), a Ghana-based human rights organization, the people of Zoghota turned to the ECOWAS Court of Justice – a regional court with the power to hold West African states responsible for human rights violations – in October 2018. Today’s ruling was a complete vindication of their claims.

    “The Court agreed that Guinea’s security forces violated the rights to life, freedom from torture and arbitrary arrest, and an effective legal remedy,” said Me Foromo Frédéric Loua, President of MDT. “Finally, after eight long years, the perpetrators of this heinous act will be held responsible for their crimes.” The Court also ordered Guinea to pay a total of 4.56 billion Guinean francs (approximately 463,000 U.S. dollars) to the victims and their families.

    The action now turns to Guinea’s domestic courts, where community members have renewed their complaint against the security forces and demanded an investigation into the role that VBG played in the massacre. “It’s now time for the Guinean institutions to finish what the ECOWAS Court started, and to prosecute and punish the security commanders and corporate agents who executed the Zoghota massacre,” said Jonathan Kaufman, Executive Director of ACA.

    The ECOWAS Court’s ruling also has important implications for the future of mining around Zoghota. VBG suspended its operations at Zoghota after the massacre and then lost its concession to mine iron ore there in a massive corruption scandal. However, Guinea recently announced plans to re-award the concession to Niron Metals, a company linked to Beny Steinmetz, one of VBG’s ultimate owners and beneficiaries. “We’ve told the government that there will be no mining at Zoghota until we see justice for the massacre,” said Mr. Kolié. “The ECOWAS Court’s judgment will help us to stand firm, because now we know that beautiful day is getting closer.”

    Judgment – Kolie v. Guinea – ECW/CCJ/JUD/25/20

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  • Victims of Mining Massacre and Land Grabs Heard at ECOWAS Court of Justice

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    ON FEBRUARY 6, 2020, THE ECOWAS COURT OF JUSTICE HELD HEARINGS IN CASES AGAINST GUINEA AND NIGER STATES FOR SERIOUS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS. The legal actions are the first that the PILIWA Network has supported before the ECOWAS Court. Two NGOs – les Mêmes Droits pour Tous (MDT) from Guinea and the Réseau DH-Gouvernance from Niger – filed the human rights cases on behalf of communities affected by their governments’ choice to favor corporate interests over the rights of their citizens.

    The Zoghota massacre

    In the Guinea case, the inhabitants of Zoghota community are suing the state over the severe reprisals suffered for having expressed their deep dissatisfaction with the operations of the Vale-BSG, a multinational consortium that was developing an iron mine in the southeast of the country.

    To silence the inhabitants of Zoghota and punish them for venting their frustration and claiming their rights, state security forces, composed of gendarmes, police and military, attacked the village at night, killing 6 people, torturing several others, arresting residents and burning their property. MDT filed a complaint in Guinean courts against security forces commanders just days after the attack and added claims against Vale-BSG in September 2018 against for its complicity in the atrocities. However, the case has never been investigated to date.

    Forced evictions at Gountou Yena

    In the Niger case, the State is accused of illegally expropriating and expelling several families from their ancestral land, a fertile valley in the capital city of Niamey called Gountou Yena where they had lived as farmers for generations.

    The families of Gountou Yena had customary land titles on the land they exploited that were duly certified and issued by the Nigerien administration. Yet without warning, the state decided to evict these families from their ancestral land without just and prior compensation, in violation of all the laws protecting the right to property in Niger. This land was then turned over to Summerset Continental, a Nigerian luxury hotel developer.

    The evictees turned to Niger’s court system for help, but the Nigerien government turned administrative procedures on their heads to deny the families their rights. In rapid succession, the state canceled the plaintiffs’ property rights, declared that they had never existed in the first place, and granted a new concession to the hotel company as if it had always been state land. When the plaintiffs obtained an order from the court requiring Summerset Continental to stop work on the site until the litigation was complete, the company instead brought police and military to the site, violently evicted the families, and destroyed their fields and homes.

    Affected persons have their day in court

    These hearings constitute a very important step for the PILIWA network because they are the first of a series of cases PILIWA is sponsoring to highlight the responsibility and complicity of West African States in human rights violations committed by international companies.

    Although brief, the presentation of each case at the Court was important for a number of reasons. First, the lawyers – Me Pépé Antoine Lama from Guinea and Me Idrissa Tchernaka from Niger – had a chance to explain to the judges that these cases are part of a pattern in which governments prioritize the interests of powerful economic actors instead of protecting the human rights of their citizens. And second, PILIWA was able to support representatives of the victims to travel to Abuja and be present to witness the vindication of their human rights by ECOWAS after their abandonment by their own states.

    Kpakilé Gnadawolo Kolié, a survivor of the Zoghota massacre who traveled to Abuja for the hearing, explained:

    We no longer believed in it, we had lost hope in Guinean justice. For more than 8 years, we have been asking for justice for our relatives who were killed and tortured during this barbaric attack, but nothing, only silence. Today it’s like I’m reborn. To be here in Abuja, attending this trial, it gives me hope and comfort that justice will be done for our families. When I get home, I will tell the whole community to stay confident.

    Seydou Mamane Hamidou, a representative of the Gountou Yena, lamented:

    Losing the ancestral land where our parents and grandparents toiled, where we continued to work, that we developed, that nourished us and constituted our main source of income – losing it in such an unjust way broke our hearts and left us in a state of economic deprivation. On behalf of families of Gountou Yena, I thank PILIWA for their invaluable help. And I remain convinced that justice will be done.

    The court will render its verdict in the Zoghota case on April 21, 2020 and in the Gountou Yena case on May 8, 2020.

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  • Guinée : Zoghota à l’honneur (Guinea: Zoghota honored)

    Français

    Notre ami Me Pépé Antoine Lama est un jeune avocat Guinéen, membre de de l’ONG « les Mêmes Droits pour Tous », membre du réseau PILIWA, avocat accompagnant les victimes du massacre de Zoghota devant les juridictions nationales et la Cour de Justice de la CEDEAO.

    Il a remporté le premier prix du concours international de plaidoiries pour les droits de l’homme organisé en Mauritanie par l’Institut international des droits de l’homme et de la paix le 5 décembre 2018. Ce concours a vu la participation de huit candidats venus de la Mauritanie, l’Algérie, le Canada et la Guinée.

    Il a consacré sa plaidoirie sur le massacre de Zoghota afin de porter non seulement la voix des victimes hors des frontières de la Guinée, mais aussi inciter les autorités guinéennes à mener des enquêtes effectives et indépendantes sur les évènements malheureux de Zoghota « Mon objectif en choisissant le cas de Zoghota est que justice soit rendue aux victimes du massacre de Zoghota et que les responsables puissent répondre de leurs actes » dit Me Pépé Antoine Lama.

    English

    Our friend Mr. Pépé Antoine Lama is a young Guinean lawyer accompanying the victims of the Zoghota massacre before the national courts and the ECOWAS Court of Justice. He is also a member of the NGO “Les Mêmes Droits pour Tous” and a member of the PILIWA network.

    He won first prize in the International Human Rights Moot Court Competition organized in Mauritania by the International Institute for Human Rights and Peace on December 5, 2018. This competition was attended by eight candidates from Mauritania, Algeria, Canada and Guinea.

    He devoted his speech to the massacre of Zoghota to carry not only the voices of the victims beyond the borders of Guinea, but also to incite the Guinean authorities to carry out effective and independent investigations on the unfortunate events of Zoghota. “My objective in choosing Zoghota’s case is that justice is done to the victims of the Zoghota massacre, and that those responsible can answer for their actions,” says Mr. Pépé Antoine Lama.

  • Zoghota Massacre Victims Accuse Mining Company of Complicity in Murder

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