© ARM
March 2013
Between the 17th and 22nd of March the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) held its first Regional Workshop for the Network of Responsible Mining of the year. It was the largest of its kind so far with participants and allies from over 10 countries, among them miners, local support organizations and international ASM experts.
The main objective of the workshop was to build bridges between all participating countries through the exchange of knowledge with mining organizations and Artisanal and Small-scale Mining communities committed to responsible practices. Regional workshops are unique opportunities for miners to learn from each other’s experiences and for our network to grow and enhance its work for the benefit of the miners. This time one of the areas of focus was Forced Labor. As part of its training and Advisory Center, ARM will be developing a Forced Labor e-learning course and during the workshop the development of it was presented and discussed with the participants, miners and mining and labor experts. The workshop program also included a panel on forced labor to discuss the issue in a global context.
Among other important issues discussed were Health and Safety, organizational development and local developments in ASM, and Capacity Building needs for miners and Local Organizations. ARM also presented its first available online course for the Training and Advisory Center; Environmental Management, which received positive feedback and which will be available later this year.
On the final day of the workshop ARM in collaboration with the University of Antioquia and Eafit University, held a public seminar on views of Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining featuring miners from Bolivia, Colombia and Peru and international mining experts discussing important issues related to ASM such as formalization, conflict gold, The Global Mercury Treaty and Communities’ Free Prior and Informed Consent (Prior Consultation).
The workshop was made possible thanks to support from Humanity United and Fondo Acción.