Abstract Countries that have ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a United Nations-backed international treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from releases of mercury and mercuric compounds, are required to produce a National Action Plan (NAP). Each must state, very clearly, how the mercury being used at artisanal and small-scale gold mines will be phased out. In most areas of sub-Saharan Africa, however, devising a comprehensive NAP promises to be an enormous and indeed, challenging, undertaking. Here, the institutional capacity and resources, expertise and at times, commitment needed to capture the level of detail the Minamata Secretariat expects to be included in each NAP are woefully lacking. One of the more challenging tasks ahead, given the shortage of hard data available on the sector’s populations, production and activities, will be the design and implementation of appropriate educational, communication and support-related strategies for the ‘vulnerable populations’ who rely on work at artisanal and small-scale gold mines for their incomes. This is especially significant for women, who, despite accounting for at least 50 percent of the region’s artisanal and small-gold mine workforce, mostly carry out the manual work at the lower tiers of the sector’s labour hierarchies. Taking stock of this largely ‘invisible’ work, this paper reflects critically on the challenges with reducing women’s exposure to mercury at artisanal and small-scale gold mines in sub-Saharan Africa. It draws on findings from ongoing research in Ghana, the location of one of the largest and most dynamic artisanal and small-scale gold mining sectors in the region.

中文翻译：

---

在撒哈拉以南非洲汞问题水俣公约中定位女性“声音”：以加纳为例

摘要 已批准《水俣公约》的国家需要制定国家行动计划 (NAP)，该公约是一项联合国支持的国际条约，旨在保护人类健康和环境免受汞和汞化合物排放的影响。每个人都必须非常清楚地说明如何逐步淘汰手工和小规模金矿中使用的汞。然而，在撒哈拉以南非洲的大多数地区，制定一个全面的国家行动方案有望成为一项艰巨的、实际上具有挑战性的任务。在这方面，可悲的是，缺乏机构能力和资源、专业知识，有时还需要承诺来捕捉水俣秘书处希望包含在每个 NAP 中的详细程度。鉴于该部门人口的硬数据短缺，未来更具挑战性的任务之一，生产和活动，将是为依靠手工和小规模金矿工作赚取收入的“弱势群体”设计和实施适当的教育、交流和支持相关战略。这对女性来说尤其重要，尽管她们至少占该地区手工和小型金矿劳动力的 50%，但她们大多在该部门劳动力等级的较低层从事体力劳动。评估这项基本上“看不见”的工作，本文批判性地反映了减少妇女在撒哈拉以南非洲的手工和小规模金矿中接触汞的挑战。它借鉴了加纳正在进行的研究的结果，加纳是该地区最大、最具活力的手工和小规模金矿开采部门之一。