The Goals of the 16th August Union, by Greg Valerio
*Key Point*: “The object of the petition is to secure artisan mining rights for Greenlanders, and True North Gems is not in any way, the target of the campaign.”
Statement from the 16th August Union.
I am writing on behalf of the 16th August Union that had to set itself up in order to protect its current rights to earn a living from traditional small scale mining activities.
Firstly it needs to be stated clearly and unequivocally that TNG are not in any way, the target of the The Greenland Ruby Campaign.
Below is the entire transcript that over 3500 Greenlandic Residents have to date signed and another 1000 from the international community have kindly supported. This will clearly demonstrate TNG are not the focus of this campaign.
“16th August Union
Petition
In the summer month of August 2007, five local gemstone collectors on Greenland were forced to abandon their ruby prospecting camp in the field, by the Greenland Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP) and the Greenland Police, and banned from all collection and trade in all of Greenland.
The authorities denied the five local people permission to continue practicing their historical and tradtional rights of collecting the stones out in nature as their ancestors have done through generations, and centuries.
Since then members of the 16th August Union have had their stones confiscated from them by the BMP and have been effectively criminalized and prevented from earning an honest living through collecting and jewellery activities.
As a union we believe this criminalization, obstruction and breach on our historical and traditional right to collect rocks is an unconstitutional, abuse of power on behalf of the authorities.
We therefore respectfully request that everybody support our petition on behalf of the whole population of Greenland to enshrine our rights in a clear, transparent law that secures the following simple idea.
“The fundamental rights for indigenous and native Greenlanders under Section 32 of the current Constitution to be able to collect, transform, commercialize and export all natural minerals of any sort. Of course except oil gas, radioactive elements and areas with monopoly.”
(The petition is both on the internet and in a physical paper edition, please be aware to only sign one of them)
End Petition
As a foreign mining company operating in Greenland, TNG is a part of the emerging history that will be recorded as The Greenland Ruby, but are not central to the current issues faced by native peoples and Greenlandic people as they fight to assert their constitutional rights and to prevent the erosion of the ancient and traditional way of life.
We welcome Robert Boyd’s support of native rights, and these rights include access to mineral wealth on the Island of Greenland and the right to earn a living from this activity. These rights are enshrined under article 32 of the Mineral code and his support is valued in this matter.
The Bureau for Minerals and Petroleum (BMP) are the body within Greenland acting on behalf of the Greenland Home Rule Government and it is their actions in reference to article 32 of the minerals act that has so inflamed the situation. Their actions in preventing Inuit and Greenlanders from earning an honest living from harvesting rubies and other precious gemstones is what has created the problem.
They are on record as saying Inuit and Greenlanders can have semi precious stones but not the precious ones like Ruby, Sapphire and Diamonds. Naturally this form of economic discrimination is indefensible. No one in the international gemstone community would recognize such distinction.
Below is the full transcript of Section 32 so that we can be clear that there is nothing in the current law that prevents the many traditional small scale miners from making an honest living from such activity.
*Act on Mineral Resources in Greenland.*
*(The mineral resources act)*
Section 32.
/The resident population of Greenland may as hitherto collect and extract mineral resources without this requiring a licence under this Act./
Subsection 2.
/ /
/The right under subsection 1 to collect and extract mineral resources can, however, only be exercised with respect of exclusive licenses for exploitation of mineral resources granted to others under this Act./
Subsection 3.
/ /
/Within the precincts of a municipality the local council may lay down detailed rules on the exercise of the rights under subsection 1 to collect and extract mineral resources”./
End Section 32.
In fact the BMP encouraged the prospecting, exporting and selling of Ruby rough by the residents of Greenland by sponsoring the Greenland Stone club to attend the Tuscon Fair a few years ago.
Currently the 16th August Union are preparing a full response to the proposal’s that have been put forward by the BMP. The Union (not a trade union) have been very diligent in collecting and filing documentation and evidences to support their claims, but as you will be aware, not having the wealth and resources that corporate bodies and governments do, it takes time to make a formal response in a culturally appropriate way to people who do not understand or in some cases even recognize that differences of world view and culture exist.
Therefore, I would kindly request that anyone concerned about this situation visit www.fairjewelry.org and support the 16th August Union petition by following the link at the top of the page. We wish to openly encourage a transparent, intelligent and vigorous debate about this issue as it is an issue of public policy and native rights.
We would ask that issue of personal difference between individuals and companies not be brought into a debate that transcends personal acrimony and is foundational to the many indigenous communities around the world who face similar marginalization from their very land they love and respect.
We all look forward to the day when any of us can buy a stone from a traditional miner in Greenland and thereby bring long term sustainable benefits to all our economies.
Many thanks,
Greg Valerio
(With permission and on behalf of the 16th August Union.)
