REINFO extensions at center of Amazon mining case
The Andean Court of Justice has admitted an unprecedented case against Peru over the government’s alleged failures to combat illegal mining, marking the first time the regional trade bloc’s judiciary will examine whether a member state has met its obligations in fighting the illicit activity.
The case challenges Peru’s repeated extensions of REINFO, the country’s mining formalization program. The program was created to help informal small-scale miners become legal operators, but critics say the repeated extensions have instead allowed illegal mining operations to continue under temporary legal protection.
The Andean Court of Justice interprets and enforces the laws of the Andean Community trade bloc.
Illegal gold mining has become one of the Amazon’s most significant environmental threats, driving deforestation, mercury contamination of rivers, and violence against Indigenous communities across the region.
In Peru, illegal mining has expanded beyond the southern Madre de Dios region into other parts of the Amazon, including the Nanay River basin near the city of Iquitos.