Bauxite Mining and Rights Abuses in Jamaica

Last updated July 2024

In January 2024, students from Wesleyan and Yale traveled to Jamaica with UNHR to participate in fact-finding with our partners at Freedom Imaginaries to document human rights abuses in Jamaica’s bauxite alumina industry. For decades, communities in Jamaica have endured land grabs, displacement, and air and water pollution by bauxite mining and processing companies. Those most affected have been the country’s poor. 

Students have worked over the past year to analyze violations of the economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights of communities affected by bauxite mining in Jamaica. In addition to performing a countrywide assessment, the students conducted an in-depth analysis of the activities of the West Indies Alumina Company (WINDALCO) in the parishes of St. Ann and St. Catherine. Students met with residents of these parishes directly affected by WINDALCO’s activities. The information gathered will appear in an upcoming report.