it.” Impact of mining on human rights A report by the United Nations Human Rights Team Group in 2006 noted that while “Mongolia’s mining sector has become an important part of Mongolia’s economic development in the past ten years, this economic development has not been conducted in a manner consistent...with [Millennium] Goal 9 to 'strengthen human rights' in Mongolia.” Among its findings were that the destruction of pasture land and water resources as a result of mining has damaged conditions for herders and that they have not been provided with alternative opportunities for employment and the need to moves their herds further from former herding areas, and for longer periods, has caused them to lose access to education, health care, and social services. The National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia held a three-day conference in Ulaanbaatar in October 2012 to study “the human rights impacts of the country’s booming mining sector.” Government and industry representatives, plus members of international human-rights groups, discussed the fact that “many herders in mining areas have been forced to leave their traditional lands and find alternative means to support themselves” and “the impact of these changes on the human rights of herders, in particular, their right to live in a healthy and safe environment, property rights and the right to preserve one’s culture and traditions.” Also discussed was the fact that “conflict between mining companies and artisanal miners, civil society organisations and local people has been escalating in recent times, occasionally resulting in violence.” Testimony by persons living in mining districts confirmed that the rapid development of mining has indeed had drastic impacts upon the environment and thus upon local residents' long-term health and survival prospects as well as their economic viability in non-mining occupations. A member of the UN Working Group on Human Rights and Business, during a visit to mining areas in Mongolia in 2012, observed “an unfortunate lack of clarity about the respective roles and responsibilities of the government and business with regard to human rights. In many mining communities, I heard residents’ expectations that hospitals and schools would be built in their soums by companies, without any mention of the government’s responsibility to do so. In other conversations, I heard of severe workplace accidents caused by companies unwilling to take safety precautions. These companies were not sanctioned for their actions, and remedies were not available for victims or their families.” In