Upholding human rights is our priority

Last week the Swiss Colombian Working Group (ASK) organised an information event in Lucerne about what they consider to be violations to human rights and damage caused to the environment as a result of the exploitation of the El Cerrejon coal mine in the Guajira province in the northeast of the South American country.  
This mine, covering 700 square metres, is the largest opencast coal mine in the world and exploited jointly by the Australian BHP Billiton company, the British Anglo-American company, and Glencore. Over the past 30 years, over 650 million tonnes of coal have been extracted from there, with Switzerland benefiting indirectly as the country is provided with electricity from German power stations which burn it.

Speaking in 2016, the then CEO of the mine, Roberto Junguito, said that the way it was run was proof that, if properly managed, working a mine could be compatible with environmental protection.

On the other hand, Jenny Paola Ortiz, a social scientist working for the not-for- profit CINEP peace programme, and Samuel Arregocés, a spokesman for Afro-Colombian communities in the areas affected, disagreed.
What they are depicting in animation films on their two-week visit to Switzerland was not mentioned in the 100-page sustainability report published by Cerrejon. 

What the pair showed through their black-and-white films were depictions of children’s lungs affected by coal dust, worse than those of a chain-smoker of ten years’ standing. They also showed how heavy water had polluted water and the ground, plants and animals. They showed how rivers had been diverted or dammed, leading to water shortages in areas where previously this had not been a problem. Furthermore, indigenous peoples had been forced out of the territories they had lived in, their rights not respected. Indeed, the pair’s views on this are shared by human rights organisations such as Swissaid and Multiwatch. What is more, the German economics journal Wirtschaftswoche used the headline “There is blood on this coal” when writing about this last year.

While legal paths have been pursued by the activists in Colombia, these have not led to any improvement, even though they have won some cases. Hence, they are putting much hope in the “Responsible Companies” initiative, which is currently being discussed in the Council of States in Bern. If this legislation is passed, then it means that Swiss firms and their subsidiaries which fail to uphold human rights and internationally-agreed standards relating to the environment could be pursued in civil courts, meaning that Glencore could be pursued in this way. “Even if we lost, Glencore’s reputation would be further damaged,” said Arregocés.

Speaking on behalf of Glencore, Sarah Antenore said, as mentioned, that upholding human rights was the company’s priority, adding how Correjon had launched over 200 projects to ensure people’s livelihoods there would not be adversely affected and that, in all its mining activities, the company was doing its utmost to limit any negative influences on the local people and environment.

The photograph shows a previous demonstration.