Court revives lawsuit against Rio Tinto

A US federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit seeking to hold Rio Tinto responsible for human rights violations and thousands of deaths linked to a Bougainville copper and gold mine it once ran.
According to a Reu­ters report, a divided 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday reversed a lower court’s dismissal of claims against the mining giant for genocide and war crimes, while upholding the dismissal of claims for racial discrimination and crimes against humanity.
“The complaint alleges purposeful conduct undertaken by Rio Tinto with the intent to assist in the commission of violence, injury, and death, to the degree necessary to keep its mines open,” Judge Mary Schroeder wrote.
The 6-5 decision on Tuesday revives an 11-year-old lawsuit on behalf of about 10,000 current and former residents of the South Pacific island of Bougainville, where a late 1980s uprising led to the use of military force and many deaths.
The Bougainville residents claimed Rio Tinto’s Panguna mine operations polluted the island and the company forced native workers to live in “slave like” conditions.
They also contended that after workers began to sabotage the mine in 1988, Rio Tinto goaded the government of Papua New Guinea into exacting retribution and conspired to impose a blockade that resulted in the deaths of 10,000 civilians by 1997.
Rio Tinto shut the mine in 1989.
Steve Berman, a lawyer for the Rio Tinto plaintiffs, said: “My clients believe Rio has been covering up its complicity in war crimes and genocide. We’re pleased to be able to return to the district court and begin proving our case.” – Reuters