Forced Displacement at the El Cerrejon Norte Mine

Communities around the massive Cerrejon Norte coal strip mine in the northern
province of La Guajira, Colombia, are still waiting for justice from the Colombian government and the multinational mining companies who own the mine. Numerous communities have been forcibly removed since mine construction began in 1980. In 2001, under the control of Exxon Mobil, the village of Tabaco was demolished and its remaining residents evicted to make way for mine expansion. Those residents continue to insist on a just settlement from the company. BHPBilliton was a minority shareholder in the company until 2002 when together with Glencore and Anglo American, it bought out Exxon Mobile and  took control of the operations.

Displaced families are still awaiting communal relocation and just compensation. Their hopes had been raised by a meeting with local management shortly before the 2004 BHP AGM, and CZN Alberto Calderon had committed the company to a process of dialogue from which the company has since withdrawn.

Many of these families now face conditions far worse than that in which they were originally living. Former residents are now living scattered in various parts of northern Colombia, some of them without the means to support themselves and relying on the charity of family, friends or other displaced community members.

-  Many  families evicted during Exxon Mobil’s operation of the mine  were forced into accepting ‘take it or leave it’ offerings  that did not equate to  just compensation for their losses in circumstances that  included intimidation, and the threat of the use of violence.
-  Those without formal title to land were evicted and not provided with any assistance to replace the livelihood. Property or amenities that they lost.
-  Those families forcibly and often violently removed who  the company aknowledges are entitled but have not accepted any settlement  are still waiting, and no progress has occurred since before  last years AGM to progress dialogue with this group.

The chairman of BHPB, one of the joint owners has previously stated that the company is uncomfortable with what happened under the previous mine’s ownership and the company has made commitments to apply the World Bank guidelines on involuntary settlement in its activities.   However, despite this ‘discomfort’ it does not appear that the World Bank guidelines are being met.  The World Bank guidelines oblige companies to restore living standards and livelihood “in real terms, to pre-displacement levels or to levels prevailing prior to  the beginning of project implementation, whichever is higher.”

These people continue to wait for  just compensation for what they have lost. The Tabaco displaced persons committee has sought a community relocation arrangement that will enable them to continue living together as a farming community in a different location, which they have already identified. But the company has withdrawn from all dialogue. 

 What should the companies do?

By buying the Cerrejon Zona Norte mine, BHPBilliton and the other companies
involved inherited moral responsibility for what the previous mine operator had
done and for rectifying it.
 
 BHPBilliton is the biggest mining company in the world and made record profits
in the past year.
 
F ormer residents of Tabaco in La Guajira, Colombia, are not asking anything
unreasonable from the company: they want sufficient compensation to enable them to
resume living together as a farming community in an acceptable location. The
Colombian Supreme Court decision in May 2002 ordered the local government to
arrange such a relocation but the local government has failed to do so, citing
lack of money. As the biggest and most profitable mining company in the world,
BHPBilliton is clearly in a position to rectify this situation.

 It is essential that local management in Colombia resume an open and honest
dialogue with the Relocation Committee from Tabaco. It is also important that
BHPBilliton admit that there are many more people needing a just settlement that
the few families who are formally in dispute with the company: there are those
former residents who were never offered any compensation because they did not have
formal title to their land, and there are those who were forced into agreeing to
inadequate compensation because they were told there was no alternative.
 

 If  BHPBilliton values its reputation as a company sensitive to the needs of the
communities around its operations. It must therefore accept the demands of former
residents of Tabaco and their Relocation Committee.
 

For more information, please contact:

Techa Beaumont
Executive Director

Workphone: +61 2 9557 9019
Mobile: +61 (0) 409 318 406

Created: 24 Nov 2005 | Last updated: 24 Nov 2005

This page: http://www.mpi.org.au/ campaigns/rights/el_cerrejon

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