“For more than 2000 years, gold has been mined in and around the Romanian
village of Roșia Montană. For almost 20 years, residents and environmentalists
have been in a dispute with the Roșia Montană Gold Corporation (RMGC) over
whether Europe’s largest gold mine should be set up in the area. [...] All around the world, the extraction of resources often goes hand in hand with
serious human rights violations. Entire villages are forcibly relocated without
adequate compensation; pollution destroys the livelihood of local communities
and damages their health. People who resist these circumstances often face threats
and criminalization.”Case report from the ECCHR - Gold Mining in Roșia Montană (Romania): Billion
dollar business vs. residents and the
environment?
While the Canadian-British mining company Gabriel Resources is now suing Romania in an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) case for a compensation of US$3.3 billion, the inhabitants of Roșia Montană are facing a quite uncertain future. Thus, the case of Roșia Montană raises various questions, politically and legally: