About Alicia Keys' work with the World Gold Council
The World Gold Council (WGC) is an international association of 23 gold mining companies. To ensure that gold mining companies continue to reap profits from gold production, the WGC spends millions of dollars each year promoting gold consumption. Celebrity Alicia Keys has lent her support to the WGC’s latest jewelry advertising campaign entitled Gold Expressions.

To mark the U.S. launch of the Gold Expressions campaign, Grammy Award-winner Alicia Keys was featured in print advertisements which appeared in the June issues of Vogue, Vanity Fair, W, and Architectural Digest.  Keys, a talented poet and songwriter, drafted several short texts for the "Gold Expressions" print ads and wore designer gold jewelry as part of the promotional campaign.

 

Mining, Environment, and Human Rights:
Why Alicia Keys Should NOT Support Dirty Gold
From helping hurricane victims in Louisiana to advocating for children in Africa, Alicia Keys' commitment to social justice, human rights, and poverty alleviation is well-known. Her concern for AIDS victims took her on a trip to Africa, and she recently performed at the Live8 benefit concert in Philadelphia in support of poverty reduction initiatives in Africa. "I think it’s really important to represent the United States on this side," said Keys at the Live8 concert, "because I feel America has a sense of disconnect when it comes to Africa or places that are very far because many of us -- most of us -- will not get the opportunity to see those places with our own eyes. As an American, I do want to say it isn’t that hard and it isn't that difficult to say 'I don't want this to happen' because we are a global community. It’s about all of us standing for life."

Villagers demanding just compensation from Abosso Goldfields for the destruction of their farms were beaten and jailed. Credit: WACAM

It is ironic, then, that Alicia Keys is inadvertently supporting one of the dirtiest industries in the world. Modern mining operations are responsible for grievous environmental, social, and human rights impacts, including in many parts of Africa.

In Ghana, gold mining operations have displaced farmers from their land, polluted rivers and streams with cyanide, and impoverished rural communities as a result of the destruction of traditional livelihoods. Mining companies have also been implicated in human rights abuses and violence against local people living near the mines.

According to recent Ghanaian news reports, AngloGold Ashanti -- the world's second largest gold producer and a leading member of the World Gold Council -- tried to cover up the shooting of a small-scale miner by the company's security. The same company is said to have established links with a murderous armed group in the Democratic Republic of Congo to gain access to a gold-rich mining site. As documented by Human Rights Watch, AngloGold Ashanti is among those benefiting from the country’s gold while local people suffer from ethnic slaughter, torture, and rape.

Yet another member of the World Gold Council, Golden Star Resources is the owner of the Bogoso gold mine in southwest Ghana. The operation has a checkered environmental record and has contaminated several rivers and streams with cyanide-laced waste. A cyanide spill in October 2004 resulted in fish kills and the hospitalization of several people. When community members held a peaceful demonstration in June 2005 to air their grievances, a combined team of police and military men shot at least seven people including a twelve-year old boy, according to Ghanaian news reports.