AC4 Teams Up with Columbia’s Human Rights Clinic to Investigate Conditions at Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea

An Innovative Interdisciplinary Columbia University Study Provides Indigenous Communities with an Independent Assessment of Environmental Risks

New York, February 2, 2015—A team of Columbia Law School students and faculty spent the winter recess in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea working alongside scientists to investigate allegations of human rights abuses and environmental degradation at one of the region’s largest gold mines.

Thousands of indigenous people live near the Porgera mine, majority-owned by Canadian corporation Barrick Gold. The indigenous community fears that mine operations have polluted their rivers and streams, contaminated rainwater, caused erosion and landslides, and contributed to poor air quality and low crop yield. While residents are concerned, they say that they have had little access to independent assessments of possible environmental risks…