{"id":621,"date":"2014-12-05T17:37:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T17:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2014\/12\/05\/malawi-ccjp-says-mining-laws-silent-on\/"},"modified":"2016-05-03T09:40:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T09:40:52","slug":"malawi-ccjp-says-mining-laws-silent-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2014\/12\/05\/malawi-ccjp-says-mining-laws-silent-on\/","title":{"rendered":"MALAWI: CCJP Says Mining Laws Silent on Corporate Responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mr. Chris Chisoni, CCJP National Secretary<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

\nThe Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) has faulted
\nthe silence of mining company\u2019s corporate social responsibility (CSR)
\ninitiatives in the country\u2019s laws governing the industry.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nCCJP national secretary, Chris Chisoni in his paper presentation
\nto a three-day mining indaba in Lilongwe which was jointly organized by Action aid,
\nNorwegian Church Aid, Citizens for Justice, Tilitonse Fund and Centre for
\nEnvironmental Policy and Advocacy.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cCurrently, there is no legal framework on corporate social
\nresponsibility. For example, you see on television a company donating two bags
\nof beans to a community where it is doing some mining works. But after asking
\nthe beneficiaries, you will find that the communities never asked for beans and
\nhave their own development needs. We need proper guidelines on this,\u201d said
\nChisoni.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nChisoni shared experiences from a civil society organization
\nperspective.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nCurrently, Malawi\u2019s main piece of legislation that governs the
\nmining sector is the Mines and Minerals Act of 1981, which is under review.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Act is supported by the Petroleum Production and Exporting Act
\nof 1983 and the Explosives Act of 1968.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe industry is also regulated by the Mines and Minerals Policy of
\n2013 and the Environmental Management Policy of 2002.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cAccess to potable water remains a challenge in places where most
\nforeign mining companies are doing their mining activities. In some of these
\nareas, communities are as they were in the days of Adam and Eve,\u201d said Chisoni.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHe warned that without clear guidelines on CSR in the mining
\nsector, Malawi is leaving to chance important components that could allow the
\ncountry to develop socially and economically.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nChisoni said CCJP knows of communities where cement production is
\ncurrently taking place but residents there travel some 100 kilometers to access
\nthe product at an exorbitant price.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cWe know some companies here in Malawi who are involved in mining
\nand that have even made communities poorer than before their mining activities.
\nThe issue is that the markets must be controlled by the government so that
\ncitizens benefit,\u201d said Chisoni.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSpokesperson in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and
\nMining, Mr. Levy Undi, said as it is now, not many countries have guidelines on
\nmining laws because mining laws in those countries already address the issues
\non CCSR<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBy Prince
\nHenderson, ECM Communications Officer<\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mr. Chris Chisoni, CCJP National Secretary The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2684,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions\/2684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}