By Samaa Eldadah
In February 2019, the Peruvian government launched an unprecedented armed military operation to disrupt illegal gold mining operations in the buffer zone of the Tambopata National Reserve, a major national park. The intervention, named Operation Mercury (Operación Mercurio) for the mercury pollution caused by small-scale gold mining, was launched with the stated goals of eradicating illegal mining activities and related crimes in Peru’s Madre de Dios region, from the drug trade to human trafficking to sexual exploitation (Ministry of the Interior, 2019). Historically, small-scale gold mining in Peru has resulted in devastating environmental consequences for Amazonian forest cover, biodiversity, and ecosystem health, in addition to considerable governance challenges and human rights abuses. While the Peruvian government has in effect condoned much of the illegal mining due to political corruption, Operation Mercury was a concerted policy response to growing pressure to address not only the environmental degradation but also crime and instability in the region (Dethier et al., 2023).
Extractive industries and trafficking ( Infographic by IUCN)
Short term, Operation Mercury proved successful. The targeted area surrounding La Pampa, formerly one of Peru’s largest illegal mining settlements, saw a 70-90% decrease in mining activity in the year following the intervention and the rescue of 120 women and girls employed in prostibares (brothels with bars) (Dethier et al., 2023; Moloney, 2020; Cortes-McPherson, 2020). However, within a year of Operation Mercury, illegal mining sites emerged in areas adjacent to La Pampa, and human trafficking and gender-based violence followed (Dethier et al., 2023; Moloney, 2020). The resurgence is not surprising. While the town of La Pampa has not rebounded due to remaining military outposts, Operation Mercury was unlikely to significantly temper the economic viability of gold mining operations throughout the country. At its economic peak prior to the intervention, La Pampa exemplified the profound environmental, social and governance challenges of resource frontiers with powerful organized crime networks, deeply entrenched corruption, poverty and income inequality, lacking state presence, and steadily increasing global gold prices. In effect, Operation Mercury has only exposed the resilience of these interconnected systems.
As illegal mining operations grow, alternative economic opportunities (e.g. farming and small business ownership) become increasingly less feasible for low-income, rural populations struggling to make ends meet. Men independently travel from poorer regions of the country to join mining operations in the hopes of a well-paying job (Igarapé, 2022). In many cases, women and girls accept misleading job offers to work at restaurants and bars near the mining site (ARM, 2014). For many low-income workers in illegal mining camps, forced labor is a reality.
A sign in Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport reads “Caution! You could be a victim of human trafficking. “Perfect” job offers may not be as they appear…” (Photo by S. Eldadah)
Since Operation Mercury, the Peruvian government has advanced important anti-human trafficking policy initiatives. In December 2019, the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations developed a guide for government ministries which details necessary policy changes to reintegrate human trafficking survivors. In July 2021, the government adopted its National Policy Against Human Trafficking which improves government tools to prevent and prosecute human trafficking (Ministry of the Interior, 2021). Given the challenges to advancing social policy initiatives in light of Peru’s political instability since 2016, Operation Mercury, the 2019 guide, and the 2021 national policy all represent significant government efforts against human trafficking.
Non-governmental and foreign actors also play important roles. The US State Department supported the financing of the national policy, entered into a Child Protection Compact Partnership with the Peruvian Government, and funded local NGO efforts to provide services to survivors. In its ranking of countries in its Trafficking in Persons Report, the US State Department lists Peru as a Tier 2 nation (countries whose governments do not fully meet the minimum standards of the United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance). Further, NGOs like Capital Humano y Social (CHS) Alternativo and Not For Sale Campaign have been critical in advancing anti-human trafficking policy.
References
Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) (2014). Addressing forced labor in artisanal and small scale mining. https://www.responsiblemines.org/images/sampledata/PressReleases/ForcedLaborToolkit%20-%20FINAL.pdf.
Cortés-McPherson, D. (2020). Digging into the Mining Subculture: The Dynamics of Trafficking in Persons in the Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining of Peru’s Madre de Dios. In: Zabyelina, Y., van Uhm, D. (eds) Illegal Mining. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46327-4_13.
Dethier, E. N., Silman, M. R., Fernandez, L. E., Espejo, J. C., Alqahtani, S., Pauca, P., & Lutz, D. A. (2023). Operation mercury: Impacts of national-level armed forces intervention and anticorruption strategy on artisanal gold mining and water quality in the Peruvian Amazon. Conservation Letters, 16, e12978. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12978
Hidalgo, D. (2019). Luego de Mercurio 2019: los resultados de este mega operativo respecto de la trata de personas. PUCP. https://idehpucp.pucp.edu.pe/revista-memoria/reportaje/luego-de-mercurio-2019-los-resultados-de-este-mega-operativo-respecto-de-la-trata-de-personas/.
Igarapé Institute (2022). The Roots of Environmental Crime in the Amazon. https://igarape.org.br/en/the-roots-of-environmental-crime-in-the-peruvian-amazon/.
Ministry of the Interior (2021). Política Nacional frente a la Trata de Personas y sus formas de explotación al 2030. https://www.gob.pe/institucion/mininter/informes-publicaciones/2385071-politica-nacional-frente-a-la-trata-de-personas-y-sus-formas-de-explotacion-al-2030.
Ministry of the Interior (2019). Gobierno inicia operación sin precedentes contra la minería ilegal en Madre de Dios. https://www.gob.pe/institucion/mininter/noticias/25760-gobierno-inicia-operacion-sin-precedentes-contra-la-mineria-ilegal-en-madre-de-dios.
Moloney, A. (2020). Sex trade flourishes in Peru’s Amazon despite crackdown on illegal mining. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-peru-trafficking-mining/sex-trade-flourishes-in-perus-amazon-despite-crackdown-on-illegal-mining-idUSKBN1ZF0KE/.
U.S. Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report (2023). https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Trafficking-in-Persons-Report-2023_Introduction-V3e.pdf.
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