A Golden Racket

In February 2014, and for the first time since 1980, the Swiss Federal Council published statistics on the provenance of Switzerland’s gold. Every year, the country imports thousands of kilograms of mined gold worth millions of Swissfrancs from Togo, a non-producer country. This new report traces the true source of this “Togolese” gold – to Burkina Faso. Out study's results: In many of the artisanal mines across the country, gold is extracted under abysmal conditions. Between 30 % and 50 % of the labour force are children who, alongside their adult colleagues, work 12-hour shifts, day and night. Companies ought to know and verify the source of their gold, but, as this report shows, voluntary measures are not working. It is time for mandatory human rights due diligence.