Wednesday, June 5, 2019

China and Incidents of Violence in African Mines

The China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) published in 2019 a policy brief titled "Disasters While Digging: Rates of Violence Against Mine Workers in Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, and Zambia" by Christian Freymeyer, MA candidate at SAIS.

The author looked at the question of instances of violence against workers and if they occur more frequently at Chinese-owned mines in the DRC, South Africa and Zambia than they do at other foreign owned mines. Contrary to the perception that Chinese mines are more prone to worker-based violence, mining companies from South Africa and the United Kingdom were at the top of the list, with eight instances each. These were followed by China (5), Australia (4), Switzerland (2), and Canada (2). The author acknowledged, however, that western companies have a larger footprint, more workers, and ultimately higher risk of violent incidents.