Sources: Western Peoples' Council (CPO) - Network in Solidarity with the
People of Guatemala (NISGUA) - MiningWatch Canada – Center for
International Environmental Law (CIEL)
(Guatemala
City/Ottawa/Washington) Tuesday, Guatemala's Western Peoples' Council of
Mayan organizations (CPO) filed a petition with the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) alleging that the country’s mining
law was approved without their prior consultation as required under both
national and international law. The IACHR is the last resort for the
CPO, which has exhausted all domestic recourse to halt violations as a
result of current mining legislation.
The CPO first challenged the constitutionality of the 1997 Mining Law in
a July 2012 suit filed with Guatemala’s Constitutional Court. In March 2013, however,
the Constitutional Court upheld the mining law,
contradicting Guatemala's legal obligations to consult with indigenous
peoples before the approval of policies that will significantly impact
their territories.
“We believe that Constitutional Court’s
decision is illegal and contradictory, given that the same court ruled
in 2011 that consultation is a constitutional right of indigenous
peoples in Guatemala. Indigenous peoples were not consulted on the
Mining Law despite its implications for our way of life and the state’s
commitment to respect the collective rights of indigenous people under
international legal instruments such as the International Labour
Organization’s Convention 169,” said Lucia Xiloj, attorney and member of
the CPO legal team.
With over 360 mining licenses issued and
more than 600 pending, Guatemala’s mining sector has been in the
spotlight for increasing conflict and violence across the country. At
the root of these conflicts is the lack of respect for free, prior and
informed consent of affected communities at the project and policy
level.
Nearly a million people have voted against mining on
their territories in 78 community referenda held throughout Guatemala
since 2005.
A public opinion survey published in January 2013 further
demonstrated that some 66% of Guatemalans are opposed to mining.
Nonetheless, neither the government nor the mining companies have
respected community decisions; instead repression against those opposed
to mining has intensified.
“The conflict, which has at its root
the violation of the right to consultation, has resulted in targeted
attacks and death, as well as the criminalization and persecution of
community leaders,” said Lolita Chavez, member of the CPO and a
signatory on the IACHR complaint.
According to the Agreement on
Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala’s Peace Accords,
the American Convention on Human Rights, the International Labour
Organization Convention No. 169 and the United Nations Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Guatemala is obliged to respect the
right of indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent for any
project that could adversely impact them, and to consult with them
before passing laws or administrative initiatives that would affect
their rights.
“A favorable response from the Inter-American
Commission on this case is vitally important, given that the current
mining law has allowed Canadian and U.S. mining companies in particular
to exploit indigenous territories with complete disregard for indigenous
peoples' decision-making processes regarding their lands and
resources,” said Kris Genovese, Senior Attorney with the
Center for International Environmental Law in Washington D.C.
The Western
People’s Council is a coalition of indigenous authorities and
institutions from seven departments of Guatemala. The complaint filed in
the IACHR has 32 signatories representing 8 indigenous groups that make
up the Western Peoples’ Council. Each signatory was elected during
community assemblies carried out during the weeks leading up to the
filing.
Contacts
- Ellen Moore, NISGUA, ellen(at)nisgua.org, (510) 868-0612
- Jen Moore, MiningWatch Canada, jen(at)miningwatch.ca, (613) 569-3439
- Amanda Kistler, Center for International Environmental Law, akistler(at)ciel.org, (202) 742-5832
Background
In
May, the military was sent into indigenous and non-indigenous
communities in the area of Tahoe Resources’ Escobal silver project south
of Guatemala City, following increased violence in the region,
including a shooting against protesters demonstrating peacefully outside
the mine site. The company’s head of security and his advisor are
currently awaiting trial for their alleged involvement in ordering and
then covering up evidence of the attack.
Tahoe Resources is a
spin-off from Goldcorp, which sold the Escobal project to Tahoe in 2010
and which now holds 40% of Tahoe’s shares and multiple positions on its
board of directors. Goldcorp’s Marlin mine in the northwestern highlands
of Guatemala has been the source of continuing tensions over lack of
respect for indigenous rights and land, and impacts on water supplies
and public health.
For nearly a year and a half, community
members in La Puya, just north of Guatemala City, have been peacefully
blocking entry to the Tambor mine project currently in the hands of
Kappes Cassidy & Associates, which took over the project from
Vancouver-based Radius Gold in August 2012 following the shooting of
Yolanda Oquelí. Community members opposing the project have faced
repeated threats from company workers during the last ten months,
despite entering into a high-level dialogue with the government in
June.
In August, Rights Action reported that female plaintiffs
are facing intimidation and harassment for having brought three lawsuits
against Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals regarding the gang rape of a
group of women during a forced eviction in 2007 and shootings in 2009 in
the eastern municipality of El Estor. The lawsuits are taking place in
an Ontario court and mark the first time that alleged human rights
abuses regarding a foreign-owned subsidiary have been admitted against a
parent company in Canada.
CPO Communiqué: The Council of Maya
and Xinca Peoples Denounces the Guatemala State in the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights On February 28, 2013, the
Guatemalan Constitutional Court dismissed the Council’s challenge of
unconstitutionality filed against the mining law on March 12, 2012.
As
a result of leaving the current Mining Law in force, the State of
Guatemala violates its responsibilities under international law, under
which it is obliged to guarantee the effective exercise of our rights to
political participation, consultation and consent regarding such
legislation.
The collective and individual human rights that have been violated by the State of Guatemala are:
a.
Political Rights – the rights to participation, consultation and
consent as recognized in article 23.1 of the American Convention on
Human Rights (The Convention).
b. Right to equality under the law as recognized in article 24 of the Convention.
c.
Right to legal guarantees and judicial protection – right to access to
justice – as per articles 8.1 and 25.1 of the Convention, in relation to
articles 1.1 and 2 of the Convention.
Based on the description
of the facts and declaration of the rights that have been violated; we
request that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights:
a. Proceed with the analysis of our case and request the relevant observations from the state of Guatemala;
b. Emit the pertinent report regarding admissibility of the case;
c.
Determine the responsibility of the state of Guatemala for violation of
articles 23.1.a., 24, 8.1, and 25.1, related to articles 1.1 y 2 of the
Convention through the elaboration of an in-depth report.
