Mining giants accused of ‘serious human rights abuses’ and ‘devastating environmental pollution’ at Colombian mine

Glencore, BHP and Anglo American run a mine linked to alleged displacement of communities and ‘extreme’ impact on natural world, reports Harry Cockburn

Coal from the Cerrejón mine in Colombia is marketed exclusively by Ireland’s Coal Marketing Company (Tanenhaus/Wikimedia Commons)

Three international mining giants are to be investigated over alleged “serious human rights abuses” and “devastating environmental pollution” at the Cerrejón mine in Colombia - one of the largest open-pit mines in the world.

Glencore, BHP and Anglo American jointly run the mine. Ireland’s state owned energy provider the ESB, will also be probed as part of the investigation by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - an intergovernmental economic organisation with 37 member countries - after complaints were filed simultaneously in Australia, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK by the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN).

The action has been supported by a coalition of Colombian, Irish and international human rights and environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs.)

If successful, the three companies which jointly own the Cerrejón mine will have to take steps to comply with the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises, including progressively closing down the mine in full and environmental restoration.

The complaints against the mining giants also call for the full compensation of communities for the harms they have suffered.

The complaints describe how the Cerrejón mine is linked to the forced displacement of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities and details the “widespread, persistent and extreme” pollution of air and water near the mine.

High concentrations of harmful metals, which can cause diseases such as cancer, were recorded in local people’s blood by Colombia’s Constitutional Court.

The complaints also point to Cerrejón’s repeated failure to comply with multiple Colombian court judgments.

In September, several prominent UN human rights experts called for some of the mine’s operations to be suspended following a request to intervene by Wayuu indigenous people.

The complaints allege the parent companies of the Cerrejón mine, as its joint owners, are responsible under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises for the harms caused by its operations.

Separate complaints have also been lodged against the Dublin-based Coal Marketing Company (CMC), which holds the exclusive rights to marketing coal from the mine, as well as Ireland’s Electricity Supply Board (ESB), which has been a major purchaser of the mine’s coal.

In 2019, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recommended that Ireland “consider stopping purchasing coal from the Cerrejón mine”.

Director of GLAN, Dr Gearóid Ó Cuinn, said: “These parallel complaints in four different countries point to a systematic failure to respect basic human rights standards from the extraction, to the marketing, to the purchasing of Cerrejon coal.

“The long-standing abuses at the mine have been so egregious that there is no way for enterprises to respect human rights law and do business with Cerrejón.”

“Rosa María Mateus Parra, lawyer with CAJAR, a Colombian human rights organisation and signatory to the complaints, said: “This is a striking example of the role played by large multinational companies in fuelling injustice.

“The people of La Guajira have borne the huge social and environmental costs of the mine, while harmful fossil fuel coal is exported around the world in the midst of the climate crisis and a small number of companies record huge profits.”

If upheld, the complaints will require BHP, Glencore and Anglo American to close down the mine and compensate the affected communities for the harms it has caused.

If the separate complaint in Ireland against the CMC is upheld it will require it to stop selling coal from the mine.

Sorley McCaughey of Christian Aid Ireland said: “We see the impact that corporate human rights abuses are having in every corner of the world and the Cerrejón case underscores the inadequacy of voluntary guidelines for multinational companies.

“Governments globally, including the UK and Ireland, must introduce mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation for companies to ensure they do not undermine the human rights of workers or the communities in which they work.”