Halifax Initiative

European protests mount around Canadian gold-mine

Ottawa - Monday, November 10th, 2003, Today, in major cities across Europe, hundreds of people gathered outside Canadian embassies to protest Canadian Gabriel Resources proposed open cast gold mine in Rosia Montana, Romania.

The demonstrations took place in Budapest, Amsterdam, Vienna, Bratislava and Prague. In Bucharest, the protestors demanded that the Canadian Ambassador visit the site in the Apuseni Mountains to see the project's impacts for himself.

Canadian mining companies must respect human rights

Open Letter to Mr. James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, from 86 NGOs in 28 Countries Concerning the Chad/Cameroon Oil & Pipeline Project

July 9, 1998

James D. Wolfensohn, President
The World Bank
1818 H Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20433 Dear Mr. Wolfensohn, The 86 undersigned environment, development, human rights and religious organizations from 28 countries call upon you to suspend World Bank participation in the Chad/Cameroon Oil & Pipeline project until respect for human rights and compliance with World Bank environmental and other policies can be fully guaranteed.We are writing to draw your attention to the especially troublesome situation, including the severe violation of human rights, in southern Chad and to the inadequacy of the environmental impact assessment and environmental management plan for the project submitted to the Bank by Exxon.

Introduction

The undersigned civil society organizations have prepared this joint submission to provide an overview of many of our concerns related to IFC’s Policy on Social and Environmental Sustainability, the Performance Standards, related guidance documents, and the Disclosure Policy. We believe these concerns should be explored and addressed further through IFC’s current consultation and review process.