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	Zambia: Workers Detail Abuse in Chinese-Owned Mines by Daniel Bekele Human Rights Watch   Chinese-run copper mining companies in Zambia routinely flout labor laws and regulations designed to protect workers’ safety and the right to organize, Human Rights Watch says in a recent report.   Zambia’s newly elected president, Michael Sata, a longtime critic of the Chinese labor practices, should act on his campaign promises to end the abuse and improve government regulation of the mining industry to ensure that all companies respect Zambia’s labor laws.   The report, “‘You’ll Be Fired If You Refuse’: Labor Abuses in Zambia’s Chinese State-owned Copper Mines,” details the persistent abuses in Chinese-run mines, including poor health and safety conditions, regular 12-hour and even 18-hour shifts involving arduous labor, and anti-union activities, all in violation of Zambia’s national laws or international labor standards.   The four Chinese-run copper mining companies in Zambia are subsidiaries of China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Corporation, a state-owned enterprise under the authority of China’s highest executive body. Copper mining is the lifeblood of the Zambian economy, contributing nearly 75 percent of the country’s exports and two-thirds of the central government revenue.   “China’s significant investment in Zambia’s copper mining industry can benefit both Chinese and Zambians,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “But the miners in Chinese-run companies have been subject to abusive health, safety, and labor conditions and longtime government indifference.”   The report is based on research conducted during three field missions in November 2010 and July 2011 and draws on more than 170 interviews, including with 95 mine workers from the country’s four Chinese copper operations and 48 mine workers from other multinational copper mining operations. Miners at Chinese-run firms said they were pleased that the companies had made a substantial investment in the copper mines and created jobs.   But they described abusive employment conditions that violate national and international standards and fall short of practices among other multinational copper mining companies in the country.   “Sometimes when you find yourself in a dangerous position, they tell you to go ahead with the work,” an underground miner at Non-Ferrous China Africa (NFCA) told Human Rights Watch. “They just consider production, not safety. If someone dies, he can be replaced tomorrow. And if you report the problem, you’ll lose your job.”   * Visit the link below to access the report. Visit the related web page
	Promoting economic security for communities affected by conflict by International Committee of the Red Cross   Sudan: seed and tools for half a million people in Darfur. (ICRC)   Almost half a million conflict-affected people in Darfur have been given seed and agricultural tools by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in time for the planting season and the first rainfall.   The aid has been distributed in cooperation with the Sudanese Red Crescent Society since June to provide livelihood support for residents and displaced people in all parts of Darfur, including a quarter million people in the Jebel Mara region. Every family was given a package containing 28 kilograms of groundnut, sorghum, millet, cow pea and assorted vegetable seeds in addition to two tools.   "Delivering the seed in time for planting and the first rains was a race against time," said Christophe Driesse, who coordinates the ICRC''s economic security activities in Sudan. "Organizing more than 400 trucks to deliver the seed and food to remote villages was quite a challenge."   Between July and September – a period known as the "lean season" – demand for grain increases as food stocks diminish both at household and market levels. In order to help particularly vulnerable people get through this period, the ICRC is distributing more than 4,000 tonnes of food in addition to the seed.   The ICRC has been assisting the victims of the armed conflict in Darfur since 2003. In partnership with the Sudanese Red Crescent Society and local authorities and communities, it provides emergency and long-term assistance for people displaced by the conflict, supports local health-care facilities and promotes compliance with international humanitarian law.   The ICRC’s work to promote economic security aims to ensure that households and communities affected by conflict or armed violence can meet essential needs and maintain or restore sustainable livelihoods.   Its activities range from emergency distributions of food and essential household items to programmes for sustainable food production and micro-economic initiatives. Needs covered include food, shelter, access to health care and education.   Economic security activities are closely linked to health, water and habitat programmes. All these activities come within the ICRC’s global mission to protect victims of conflict.   The ICRC has defined four degrees of crisis regarding the coverage of essential needs and adjusts its response accordingly. In pre-crisis and acute crisis situations, the response meets essential needs – the aim is to save lives. In chronic crisis and post-crisis situations, the response promotes economic consolidation and reconstruction – the aim is to support livelihoods. The Economic Security Unit assesses needs at household level in order to obtain first-hand local information.   Action taken may include providing services directly, to make up for shortfalls from regular providers, supporting local service providers, persuading the authorities to shoulder their responsibilities and encouraging action by third parties where needed.   Relief aid is primarily intended to save lives and protect livelihoods when they are at immediate risk. This is done by giving people access to goods essential for their survival, such as household items, food, seed and tools. At the same time, ICRC delegates will maintain a dialogue with all parties to improve the protection of these populations at risk.   Production aid is intended to spur food production and possibly generate income, and ultimately to restore sustainable livelihoods. This means preserving household or community productive assets, such as agriculture and livestock. The aid includes vaccinating, culling and restocking herds, distributing tools, seed and fishing tackle and promoting micro-economic initiatives and capacity-building efforts.   Structural aid, provided mainly in chronic crisis and post-crisis settings, is intended to revive the output of sustainable productive assets (agriculture, for example) by encouraging service providers and other parties concerned to provide the required input, such as seed and tools. It may also be used to promote improvements in such areas as agricultural extension services and State-delivered social welfare programmes.   Micro-economic initiatives aim to strengthen income generation in households and entire communities in a sustainable manner and in a given time frame. The projects are tailored to meet individual needs, as expressed by the recipients. The most commonly used micro-economic tools are productive grants, vocational training and small loans. Visit the related web page
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