{"id":21992,"date":"2013-10-24T15:54:53","date_gmt":"2013-10-24T19:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/?p=21992"},"modified":"2024-09-16T15:56:04","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T19:56:04","slug":"press-release-mining-and-human-rights-in-latin-america-companies-home-states-are-key-to-protecting-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/2013\/10\/24\/press-release-mining-and-human-rights-in-latin-america-companies-home-states-are-key-to-protecting-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"PRESS RELEASE: Mining and Human Rights in Latin America: Companies\u2019 Home States are Key to Protecting Human Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Washington D.C., October 24, 2013.-<\/strong>\u00a0On November 1, 2013, the Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF) will participate in a public hearing on the\u00a0\u201cHuman Rights of People Affected by Mining in the Americas and Mining Companies\u2019 Host and Home States\u2019 Responsibility\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0during the 149th Session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington DC.<\/p>\n

At this hearing, participating organizations will address the\u00a0impact of mining<\/strong>\u00a0activities<\/strong>\u00a0on human rights and will highlight\u00a0the role played by the home States\u00a0<\/strong>of transnational mining companies in protecting human rights in the region\u2019s mining industry. They will use the cases of\u00a0Brazil and Canada<\/strong>\u00a0as examples (80% of mining activity in Latin America is developed by Canadian companies). They will also discuss how the\u00a0general practices of mining companies<\/strong>\u00a0in Latin America impact the integrity of human rights in the region.<\/p>\n

While the impact of extractive industries on human rights has been a topic of preoccupation for the IACHR, this will be its first time\u00a0addressing home State responsibility for the activities of mining companies<\/strong>\u00a0and the human rights violations they have committed in several countries around the region. Up until now, discussions on this topic have focused on the responsibilities of \u201chost\u201d States\u2014those that allow foreign companies to disregard the human rights of their population. Little has been said about the responsibility of states from which these companies originate\u2014\u201corigin states\u201d or \u201chome states\u201d\u2014those that, according to this hearing\u2019s petitioners, must also respond to these actions.<\/p>\n

There are many reasons for making this statement, but one fundamental reason is the\u00a0lack of home state monitoring\u00a0<\/strong>over their companies as a way to avoid violations of human rights when operating outside of their territory. This is even worse if we take into account that home states are aware of these violations, for they have been denounced directly before their embassies and in some cases, before State entities in their respective countries. In many cases, these situations are widely known. And yet, in the case of Canada, for example, such violations of human rights have not led the State to demand compliance with human rights norms out of their companies before granting them with economic and political support.<\/p>\n

Another reason is that the victims of such violations\u2014who usually do not receive any kind of response in their own countries\u2014do not find the appropriate mechanisms through which to channel their complaints and claims in the companies\u2019 home States. In the case of Canada, neither civilian nor criminal courts contain mechanisms to give answers to the victims\u2019 claims. Some State actions, such as holding multi-sector consultations and roundtables, have proven to be insufficient. It is thus necessary to\u00a0create effective mechanisms of judicial access for victims<\/strong>\u00a0of these types of abuses. Due to its nature, the Inter-American system can play a key role in designing and promoting such mechanisms, not only in the states where these abuses occur, but also in these companies\u2019 home states.<\/p>\n

One other aspect that will be mentioned in the hearing is the\u00a0intervention of Canadian government representatives in the elaboration and\/or modification of national laws<\/strong>\u00a0on mining and environmental matters in several of the countries under study. This contrasts with the lack of participation of the affected communities within the processes of reform and adoption of mining laws, concessions, or revocations. Although there are many ways to approach this topic, this hearing wants to call attention to this aspect and promote discussion on the legal and ethical reaches and limits of these types of interventions.<\/p>\n

During the hearing, the IACHR will be briefed on concrete cases of human rights violations derived from the activities of foreign\u00a0mining companies in Brazil<\/strong>\u00a0but also of the conduct of\u00a0Brazilian companies in other Latin American<\/strong>\u00a0countries (such as Peru, Colombia, Chile and Argentina). It is important to note that the Brazilian mining industry that have activities outside of Brazil is strongly supported by the Brazilian State through a series of legal and institutional mechanisms as well as State financing. Thus, the role of the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econ\u00f4mico e Social (BNDES) will be highlighted. The work carried out by Vale and EBX, two of Brazil\u2019s largest companies with activities outside of the country, will also be mentioned. These companies have also received large loans and financing from other governments to help fund their foreign expansion, such as the billion dollar loan from the Canadian government (for Vale) and the Colombian government\u2019s million dollar donation to EBX projects.<\/p>\n

The participants at the hearing will be:\u00a0Dora Lucy Arias<\/strong>, from the Colectivo de Abogados Jos\u00e9 Alvear Restrepo, CAJAR, (Colombia);\u00a0Pedro Landa<\/strong>, from the Centro de Promoci\u00f3n y Desarrollo de Honduras,\u00a0CEPRODEH<\/em>, (Honduras);\u00a0Nilton Velazco<\/strong>, from the Pastoral Social de Dignidad Humana (Per\u00fa);\u00a0Alexandra Montgomery<\/strong>, representing Justicia Global and the Red Internacional de los Afectados por la Vale (Brazil);\u00a0Rub\u00e9n Cruz<\/strong>, representative of the indigenous community of Diaguita Patay Co (Chile) and\u00a0Katya Salazar<\/strong>, of the Due Process of Law Foundation (Washington, DC).<\/p>\n

The hearing will be streamed live through the\u00a0OAS Webcast here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Date:<\/strong>\u00a0November 1, 2013<\/p>\n

Time:<\/strong>\u00a03:15 pm<\/p>\n

Location:<\/strong>\u00a0Padilha Vidal Room of the GSB building of the OEA, 1889 F St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006<\/p>\n

\n

For additional information on this hearing or to arrange an interview with one of the participants please contact:<\/p>\n

Grace Durante<\/strong><\/p>\n

Communications and Op. Manager<\/p>\n

Due Process of Law Foundation<\/p>\n

gdurante@dplf.org<\/a><\/p>\n

(202) 462 7701<\/p>\n

* The\u00a0Working Group on Mining in Latin America<\/em>\u00a0is composed of Latin American NGOs that have been reflecting and working together since 2010 to develop common strategies to address the impact of mining on rights humans in the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., October 24, 2013.-\u00a0On November 1, 2013, the Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF) will participate in a public hearing on the\u00a0\u201cHuman Rights of People Affected by Mining in the Americas and Mining Companies\u2019 Host and Home States\u2019 Responsibility\u201d\u00a0during the 149th Session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington DC. At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[681],"tags":[],"country":[876,889,877,890,891,892,893,878,894,879,880,881,882,883,895,888,897],"issue":[865,855],"program":[874],"resource":[896],"class_list":["post-21992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","country-america-central","country-argentina","country-belice","country-bolivia","country-brazil","country-chile","country-colombia","country-costa-rica","country-ecuador","country-el-salvador","country-guatemala","country-honduras","country-nicaragua","country-panama","country-peru","country-america-del-sur","country-venezuela","issue-inter-american-system-of-human-rights","issue-business-and-human-rights","program-climate-justice-and-human-rights","resource-press-releases"],"acf":{"boton_1":"","url_boton_1\u00ba":"","boton_2":"","url_boton_2":"","boton_3":"","url_boton_3":"","boton_4":"","url_boton_4":"","boton_5":"","url_boton_5":"","boton_6":"","url_boton_6":"","boton_7":"","url_boton_7":"","boton_8":"","url_boton_8":"","boton_9":"","url_boton_9":"","boton_10":"","url_boton_10":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21993,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21992\/revisions\/21993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21992"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=21992"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=21992"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=21992"},{"taxonomy":"resource","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dplf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource?post=21992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}