Regarding the non-compliance of the

Message from the Board

This case study aims to expose and analyse in a concise manner the numerous difficulties faced during the whole process of fighting for respect and for the restoration of the human rights of the Community of Cassoca, in the Province of Tete, from the simple right to information to the right to live a decent life.

This lengthy process started in 2013, when JA submited a letter to the National Directorate for Environmental Impact Assessment (DNAIA-MICOA) requesting, without success, copies of Jindal Mozambique Minerais Ltd’ (hereinafter referred to simply as JINDAL) Environmental Impact Assessment Report, as well as of the corresponding Environmental License.

Numerous other letters – as well as countless requests for information and letters denouncing the deplorable living conditions the Community of Cassoca was being subjected to – were submitted to several relevant government institutions: from MICOA to MITADER, to the Ombudsman Office, the National Human Rights Commission, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), the Administrative Court of the Province of Tete (TAPT), and finally the First Section of Litigation of the Administrative Tribunal. In response, little or nothing was done to protect this community.

To date, we have not been able to obtain copies of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report, nor have we been able to see the Environmental License assigned to JINDAL. After much persistence, in December 2018, on JA’s last visit to DNAIA seeking to obtain copies of these documents, the justification they offered us for not making them available was that, because it was an old process, they needed to check their archives and that takes a long time. Once again, access to information was denied to us without an acceptable justification.

As the process trails along the tortuous paths of Mozambican Justice, the community of Cassoca remains besieged, for JINDAL has begun and continues to run its operation – a coal exploration that runs and coexists with the community. This perpetuates the impunity of JINDAL and the violation of the most basic rights of an entire community, with the full knowledge and consent of the Government.

The living conditions of this community are a clear example of a violation of human rights. JIN-

Jindal - A Classic Example of Corporate Impunity