Case Study Analysis of Barrick Gold: Unethical Business Practices and Corporate Social Responsibility

This case study analysis examines the environmental and human rights violations of Barrick Gold, a Canadian mining company. The work evaluates the company's unethical business practices and its participation in the UN Global Compact principles. Recommendations are provided for the company to improve its corporate social responsibility.

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Introduction
With the increased complexities in the business operations, there has been placed a
greater need on addressing the needs and interests of the varied range of
stakeholders by the business organisations. The following work is aimed at
examining the various aspects of the environmental and human rights violations
taking into account the case study of Barrick Gold, which is a Canadian based
company and one of the most renowned enterprises of the world in the mining
industry. The work will evaluate the various aspects of the human rights and
environmental practices violations, because of which the said corporation is
consistently in national and global news.
Case study of unethical business practices
Barrick gold corp is one of the major gold mining industries in this world. While the
headquarter of the company are situated in Australia, South America, North America
and Africa, the company has its business operations in the regions of Canada,
Dominican Republic, Colombia, Argentina, Tanzania and others. The Canada
Barrick has further majority shares in the Acacia’s North Mara Gold Mine, making it
as a subsidiary, which is consistently in news for the reasons of serious human rights
abuses, including sexual violence, killings, and assault (Independent Media and
affiliated companies, 2019). As per the new cases reported in the year 2017, some
of the grieve human injuries caused by the mining activities included incidents of loss
of limbs, internal injuries, children hit by flying blast rocks, loss of eyesight, broken
bones. This was in addition to the teargas grenades being thrown by the mine
security in order to safeguard the mines from the intruders of the nearby villages
(Engler, 2017). A number of deaths have also been reported. Further, the African
subsidiary is also in news for the increasing number of failures in the areas of
payments of taxes and royalties. In addition, the company Barrick Gold has also
been accused of environmental damages by the chemical dumping such as mercury
lead and cyanide thereby being harmful for the area as well as the local population.
Ethical responsibilities and sustainability practices
As stated by the Government of Canada, the organisations should dedicatedly
commit towards the implementation of the corporate social business practices in
Canada (Government of Canada, 2019). With the increased globalisation and

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recognition of the needs and interests of the stakeholders such as the consumers,
investors, suppliers, regulators and others; a number of international agencies are
dedicatedly engaged in promotion of the global ethical business practices.
UN Global Compact Principles
The UN Global Compact provides a framework of corporate social responsibility and
sustainability practices to the global business enterprises. The Global Compact
brings the companies together with the UN agencies, civil society, and the labor
groups. The framework is laid down in the form of ten principles on the varied
stakeholders rights and business operations. Though it is a non-binding pact on the
business organisations, the said framework aims at encouraging the businesses
worldwide to employ the sustainable and socially responsible policies in their
business functions and to report the same. The ten principles are based on the
aspects of the human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. The global
compact is regarded as one of the world’s largest corporate social responsibility
initiative with thousands of participant entities across the globe serving wide range of
stakeholders in more than 150 countries.
Analysis of the case in light of the UN Global Compact principles
It is significant to note that the company Barrick Gold is the participatory of the UN
Global compact principles since the year 2005 (UN Global Compact, 2019a).
According to the Principle 1, Businesses should be supportive towards and should
respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights. The Principle 2
suggests that the businesses should not be complicit in human right abuses. In
addition the principles 7, 8 and 9, the entity should opt a precautionary approach to
environmental challenges. In addition, environmentally friendly technologies must be
developed and implemented in the business operations and undertake initiatives to
promote the environmental responsibility (UN Global Compact, 2019b).
In light of the above mentioned principles, it can be stated that the company has led
to the serious breach of the human rights violations. One of the UK’s corporate
watchdog namely the Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) has initiated
serious concerns to the company to address long due human rights and other
grievances at the North Mara mine. While the company’s earlier mechanism had
limited the company’s legal liability, the company had revised its mechanism in

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December 2017, which too is stated to be falling short of the strict compliance. The
organisation RAID had stated that in terms of human rights benchmarks, the
company has violated principles and in addition the new mechanism further lacks
transparency, independence, provides limited legal assistance to the victims are
some of the major problems in relation to the United Nations Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights.
As per the various theories stated over the years, in the CSR field, Corporate social
responsibility is defined as the practice of aligning the business decisions with that of
the interests of the varied stakeholders, in order to render an overall positive impact
on society and community as a whole. In addition, the subject of the corporate social
responsibility is of wide concern at both national and international levels. Some of
the organisations that are working towards the UN Global Compact, World Business
Council for Sustainable Development, the Organization for Economic cooperation
and development, the International Organization for Standardization, Global
Reporting Initiative, and likewise (Zientara, 2017). Hence, business must be
responsible in their corporate conduct at all times.
Recommendations
Some of the recommendations that are stated for the company in light of the
violations of the above stated human rights are as follows. The first recommendation
that has been stated for the company is to engage in a dialogue with the local
communities, government and the other stakeholders according to a viable action
plan. The second step in the said recommendation is to initiate a collaborative
process that involves the mine and the community. In addition, the company can
establish a Victim Advocates’ Office which can be the initial entry point for the
victims. Further, the company can create a company action plan to establish long
term action plans and provide remedy for the victims and the complaints.
Conclusion
Thus, as per the discussions conducted above, it can be stated that following the
ethical principles in the light of the corporate social responsibility is a prime
responsibility of the entities of today. This is because of increased complexities and
need for transparency in the business operations and the enhanced regulatory
measures. The work attempted to evaluate the various aspects of the principles of

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the UN Global compact in relation to the case study of the one of the most popular
Canada based company Barrick Gold Corporation. The work highlighted the human
rights and environment breach by the company leading to unethical business
practices. The work further suggested some recommendations that can be employed
by the entity in its future business operations.

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Appendix
Link for the case study:
https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/features/mining/miningindaba-should-address-
justice-for-victims-watch-zakarias-story-19127204

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References
Government of Canada. (2019) Corporate social responsibility [online] Available
from: https://canadabusiness.ca/managing-your-business/day-to-day-operations/
management-leadership/corporate-social-responsibility/ [Accessed on: 29/03/2019].
Independent Media and affiliated companies. (2019) #MiningIndaba should address
justice for victims … watch Zakaria’s story [online] Available from:
https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/features/mining/miningindaba-should-address-
justice-for-victims-watch-zakarias-story-19127204 [Accessed on: 29/03/2019].
Engler, Y. (2017) Canada Just Can't Quit Its Most Abusive Mining Company [online]
Available from: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/yves-engler/canada-just-cant-quit-its-
most-abusive-mining-company_a_23060899/ [Accessed on: 29/03/2019].
UN Global Compact (2019a) Barrick Gold Corporation [online] Available from:
https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/participants/1184-Barrick-Gold-
Corporation [Accessed on: 29/03/2019].
UN Global Compact (2019b) The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact [online]
Available from: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/mission/principles
[Accessed on: 29/03/2019].
Zientara, P. (2017) Socio emotional Wealth and Corporate Social Responsibility: A
Critical Analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 144(1), pp. 185–186.