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NGOs Condemn BHP Billiton´s Human Rights Abuses In Colombia
Friday 04 June 2004
The Mineral Policy Institute, Friends of the Earth Australia and United States NGO PressurePoint strongly condemn BHP Billiton’s conduct in operating its Cerrejón Norte coal mine in Colombia. BHP Billiton and its consortium partners are on the verge of forcibly displacing a number of Wayuu Indigenous and Afro Colombian communities with no compensation to make way for the expansion of the mine, already the worlds largest. The mine lies in part on or adjoins Wayuu indigneous land in the province of Guajira.BHP Billiton is co-owner and operator with Anglo American and Glencore since April 2002, when the majority ownership was sold by ExxonMobil. It has been a minority owner in the mine since 2000. PressurePoint staff members have been on an extensive fact finding mission of the mine and its impacts. They report a systematic pattern of human rights abuses, excessive environmental destruction, and contamination.
“We are appalled at what BHP Billiton is doing here”, said Australian citizen and PressurePoint Campaigns Coordinator Chris Doran. “We are witnessing systematic violations of human rights and extreme intimidation. BHP Billiton is operating beyond the bounds of even the most basic notion of decency or international law. We demand that BHP Billiton stop intimidating these communities and provide adequate compensation immediately.”
BHP Billiton and its consortium partners have essentially laid siege to the Wayuu community of Tamaquitos. The company has bought up all the land surrounding the community and controls the main road. As a result, Tamaquitos now has no access to public transportation, education, health services, or traditional food sources from hunting. The mine has now expanded within 100 meters of the community. Tamaquitos has repeatedly asked to be relocated entirely as a community to productive agricultural land with adequate compensation. BHP Billiton refuses to negotiate with the community and instead has stepped up its campaign of intimidation and harrassment, including visits by security forces and denial of any indigenous heritage or land rights. The Afro Colombian communities of Roche, Chancleta, and Patiilla are facing similar dire circumstances.
Remedios Fajardo, Director of YANAMA, a Wayuu Indigenous organization stated, “ We demand that Tamaquitos and the other communities be adequately relocated so that people can work freely, educate their children, and live free of contamination. BHP Billition and its partners have no respect for the social fabric of our lives, as evidenced by the many communities intentionally destroyed since the mine began operating.”
On April 16, several members of the community of Sarahita were dragged from their homes in an operation supervised by mine officials. The company bulldozed their houses to make way for the expansion of the mine, with no compensation. This follows a pattern of violent displacements and intimidation to facilitate the expansion, the most significant being the 700 person Afro Colombian community of Tabaco in August 2001. Company officials arrived with 500 police and 200 soldiers with no warning on August 9, 2001 and violently displaced the community. Residents were not even allowed to remove their personal belongings before their homes were bulldozed.
“We have good reason to believe that BHP Billiton has the same brutal plans for Tamaquitos, Roche, Chancleta and Patilla. Friends of the Earth, the Mineral Policy Institute and PressurePoint call on BHP Billiton to guarantee that these communities will not be forcibly displaced and instead enter into negotiations for immediate and just compensation,” said Mineral Policy Institute spokesperson Igor O’Neill.
“We are also extremely concerned to learn that BHP Billiton has plans to divert the Rio Rancheria River, the main waterway in the dry province of Guajira, which 300,000 people depend on”, said Liz Turner on behalf of Friends of the Earth Australia. BHP Billiton is a signatory to the Global Compact on Human Rights, Labour, and the Environment. Principles One and Two state that ‘Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights within their sphere of influence, and make sure they are not complicit in human rights abuses.’ “NGOs in Australia and the USA call on BHP Billiton to live up to its commitments and immediately cease its gross and systematic violations of human rights at its Cerrejón Norte mine”, continued Ms Turner.
D I R E C T M E D I A C O N T A C T S:
To arrange interviews with Wayuu Indigenous and Afro Colombian community leaders contact Chris Doran via email: chrisdoran@pressurepoint.org. Direct mobile phone contact in Colombia- (57) 03 310 422 1690 or (57) 3 310 422 1690. Best to email and make arrangements for interviews via land line.
In Australia, contact:
The Mineral Policy Institute: (02) 9557 9019 Mobile: 0409 318 406
Friends of the Earth Australia: Liz Turner (03) 9419 8700
For more information, please contact:
Igor O'Neill
Workphone: +62 21 794 1672
Mobile: +62 81 286 12 286
Created: 01 Jan 1970 | Last updated: 04 Jun 2004
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