Mozambique: Protect the Rights of Farmers Resettled for Coal Mines

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Female farmers resettled to Mwaladzi by the Mozambican government and international mining company Rio Tinto received land with poor access to water and limited productivity. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Ernesto M. riding his motorbike at dusk from his home in Capanga, where he has lived for 35 years. Some of his neighbors were resettled a year earlier but he does not know when his family will move. Lack of information about changes to the resettlement schedule has led to uncertainty about investing in critical house repairs or working on his current farm. “They told us we would move this month, but until now, I have not received any information. I am worried, I haven’t repaired the roof, if the rain starts, my situation will be bad.” © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Atilia M. and her son harvest vegetables in a plot along the Revuboë river near their village, Capanga, before resettlement. They grow onions, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables. Households already resettled in Mwaladzi do not have access to a river and have struggled to farm staple crops or vegetables in their new location. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Zos B. harvests a variety of vegetables near the naturally irrigated soil on the banks of the Revuboë river. She and her neighbors said they depend on the river for watering livestock and successful agriculture and are worried about resettlement to Mwaladzi, which has no river nearby. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Children swimming in the Revuboë river. Prior to their resettlement, many residents relied on their proximity to the river not only for agriculture, but also to bathe, wash their clothes, and socialize. Ana Maria B., a woman about to be resettled to the Rio Tinto resettlement village Mwaladzi, said, “Since I was born, I have taken baths here in the river. I have washed my clothes here…. Even my children have grown up here in this river. They know how to swim. Where we are going we will be given water in small containers. I’m not used to that kind of thing.” © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Women panning for gold in Cassoca, a village earmarked for resettlement to make way for Jindal Africa’s mining operations. All of the residents of Cassoca that Human Rights Watch interviewed said they currently supplemented their income by panning for gold and selling fruit. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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A woman from Cassoca shows a gold nugget panned that day by a member of her family that would earn enough income to cover a month’s expenses. Residents from Cassoca expressed concern that once they are relocated, they would lose access to gold panning, which is an important source of secondary income for the community. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Matilde, J., a mother of three young children from Cassoca, said, “I think we will suffer. We are moving to a place with no gold. We are going against our wishes.” © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Rio Tinto’s “Benga” coal mining operation in Tete province in central Mozambique. Arid, coal-rich Tete has been at the epicenter of a coal mining boom that has attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment. Without adequate safeguards, this surge also poses grave risks to human rights. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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A railway track used to transport Vale’s shipments of coal from their mine in Moatize to the port in Beira. On January 10, 2012, about 500 people staged a demonstration and blocked the railway. Deeply frustrated and anxious about their living conditions since resettlement in 2010, residents of Cateme protested to Vale and local government officials demanding a response to their concerns about land, houses, water, transport, and job opportunities. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Female farmers on a barren agricultural plot in Mwaladzi. Resettlement to an area with limited water supply and poor agricultural productivity has led farmers who once produced most of their own food to become dependent on food assistance programs. Erica D. (middle) said, “Look at this soil. Do you think this is soil where people can grow something? Just look at these dried plants. Do you think that maize can come from these small plants? They don’t grow here.” © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Joia B., 27, making bricks in Mwaladzi in exchange for food packages financed by Rio Tinto. “Our fields are not producing anything…. We have houses, but we don’t have food.” © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Vale installed water pumps in Cateme to address the lack of natural water sources in the area and reduce the amount of time they spent gathering water. But in the first two years after resettlement, the pumps sometimes fell into disrepair and households had insufficient quantities of water. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Compensation packages for resettled households included a new house made with bricks, cement, a zinc roof, and separate structures for a kitchen, toilet, and storage for crops. Poor quality construction by the company contracted by Vale in Cateme led to cracks in the walls of many houses and leaks from both the roof and floor when it rained. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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During the initial building phase in 2010, Vale changed the agreed-upon design of the new houses to a model with no foundation to hasten construction. Upon complaints by the resettled households, Vale began to repair all the houses in Cateme and 25 de Setembro in 2012, including by adding a foundation. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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Malosa C. and her family outside their new home in Mwaladzi, in front of their empty storage for maize. People resettled to Mwaladzi told Human Rights Watch that they received a major shock and disruption to their livelihoods and are still struggling to re-establish their self-sufficiency. Mining company officials have acknowledged the marginal quality of the land and poor access to water in the new community. The government has awarded so much land for mining licenses in Tete province that there are few options for viable resettlement areas. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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In Vale’s “urban” resettlement area of 25 de Setembro, several female-headed households live in the kitchens of the houses they were provided while renting the main house to buy food. Residents received no farmland as they were expected to earn their living in other ways. Fatima S. said that she and her six children live and sleep in the small confines of her kitchen. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
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The farmland provided to Senolia S., upon her resettlement to Cateme, was reclaimed by its original cultivators. She did not receive any replacement land or additional assistance and finally scraped enough money together to rent a plot of rocky, untilled land. © 2013 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch 392562
Many people resettled to make way for Vale and Rio Tinto's international coal mining operations in Tete province, Mozambique no longer have access to arable land for farming, or other ways to make a living.
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