Interesting news from El Cerrejón coal mine, Colombia

Hello again
Having published some very critical information concerning the huge open-pit coal mine at El Cerrejón, La Guajira department, Colombia, I feel it is fair today to follow up with an official statement published in Bogotá on August 27, 2007, by Carbones del Cerrejón Limited. So here goes:


Cerrejón Announces Independent Social Review

Carbones del Cerrejón Limited ("Cerrejón"), the largest coal mining company in Colombia, and its shareholders, Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Xstrata Coal, have commissioned an independent social review of Cerrejón's past and current social engagement. The review will be conducted by a multi-stakeholder, independent panel, comprising five internationally recognized experts in social development.

León Teicher, President of Cerrejón said: "We have initiated this review of Cerrejón's social performance to benefit from an independent assessment of our social engagement to date and to gain strategic guidance to enhance Cerrejón's future performance. The review will be conducted independently of Cerrejón management by a highly credible group of independent members with specific experience of social development both from within Colombia and from an international perspective.

"The committee's report will allow us to evaluate Cerrejón's past and current social engagement within La Guajira and to receive recommendations that ensure Cerrejón ranks amongst the best international performers in this field. This review underlines our commitment to address the priorities of our stakeholders in the region and to international best practice in social engagement.

Cerrejón is an important contributor to the local, regional and national economy, creating over 10,000 direct jobs and many more indirectly. Cerrejón makes a significant and beneficial contribution to the sustainable development of local communities and has implemented leading practices in human rights policies.

The independent committee is chaired by Dr. John Harker, President of Cape Breton University, Canada.
Its members comprise:

 Salomón Kalmanovitz, Dean of Economics and Business Administration of Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, Colombia and a former member of the Board of directors of the Colombian Central Bank;

 Elena Serrano, Casa de La Paz Foundation, a non-governmental organization based in Chile which promotes peace, social development and environmental awareness;

 Daniel Gagnier, Chair of the Canadian not-for-profit organization International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and former Senior Vice-president, ALCAN Inc.; and

 Nick Killick, International Alert, a UK-based, international non-governmental organization focused on peacebuilding and security in developing countries.

Cerrejón and its shareholders recognize the independence of the committee and will provide all relevant information and full access to the company's facilities, staff and records. The committee will be supported by Social Capital Group, an internationally recognized consultancy that will undertake the fieldwork required for the review and will report directly to the committee.

At the end of the process, the independent committee will present a comprehensive report to Cerrejón and its shareholders that will include specific recommendations on current and future community engagement practices, including addressing legacy issues. The review process is expected to be completed within six months and an executive summary of the report will be made publicly available.

The review forms a critical part of Cerrejon's Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and will inform the future development of the company's policies and practice in this area.

Bogotá D.C. August 27, 2007

(see also http://www.cerrejoncoal.com/secciones/CERWEB/ENGHOME/MENUPRINCIPAL/SALADEPRENSA/NOTICIAS/doc_137_HTML.html?idDocumento=137)
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I, for one, very much look forward to seeing the review and report. But all the reporting will be of no use if recommendations are not implemented. Events in the distant and recent past do not bode terribly well. Watch this space!

"The Living Dead", an article from New Brunswick, Canada

Hi there,
Once again, an important and informative article concerning the disregard for human rights by huge international mining corporations, two of them Swiss, has reached my in-box. I'd like to share this with you. I am part of an NGO, Arbeitsgruppe Schweiz-Kolumbien, ask! (www.askonline.ch -- in German) which is actively engaged in raising our government's awareness of events and in pushing for improvements in Colombia.

Tracy Glynn is a M.Sc. student in the Environmental Science program. She has written extensively about environmental issues (see: Memorial University of Newfoundland "Gazette", Vol 38 No 9 February 2, 2006 -- http://www.mun.ca/marcomm/gazette/issues/vol38no9/newspage15.php).
Here's her article:

THE LIVING DEAD

La Guajira and Belledune Pay the Price for New Brunswick Comfort and Complicity

By Tracy Glynn

“Their fundamental rights have been violated. These communities lack the most minimal conditions necessary for a decent life. They seem to belong to the living dead” - writes Jairo Quiroz from the National Union of Coal Workers (Sintracarbón) after investigating the living conditions in communities around the Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia in early November [2006].

NB Power consumes coal produced in the Cerrejón mine at its plant in Belledune.

Approximately 16% of the power in our province supplied through NB [New Brunswick] Power is generated from what has been dubbed “Colombian blood coal.”

José Julio Pérez was a farmer from Tabaco, Colombia. Today, Tabaco and its homes, farms, church and school do not exist. All that lived in Tabaco was destroyed for the Cerrejón mine in August 2001. During the bloody displacement, some of Pérez’s neighbours sustained serious and long lasting injuries after being beaten with clubs by the police, including a woman who intervened on a beating of her father.

Tabaco is not the only village that was illegally wiped off the map and those formerly from Tabaco are not the only ones suffering because of the world’s largest open-pit coal mine. Since the development of the Cerrejón mine in 1982, indigenous Wayuu and Afro-Colombian communities in La Guajira have been forcibly displaced from their lands.

Traditional agriculture-based livelihoods have been destroyed with the loss of land and industrial contamination. More communities face similar fates with the coal mine expansion.

The multinational companies that have and currently own Cerrejón include ExxonMobil, Glencore, Xstrata [Glencore and Xstrata are large Swiss companies!!!], BHP Billiton and AngloAmerican. While it welcomed the foreign investors, the Colombian State dehumanized the local indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. The people who lived on top of the rich coal reserves were treated less than human and became dispensable things. Their say in the development or destruction of their communities did not matter. Atrocities against them including poverty, brutal intimidation, beatings, jail sentences and the prospect of being killed were justified.

The disenfranchised communities were left to suffer the health consequences of breathing bad air and drinking contaminated water. Similar environmental injustices also occur inside New Brunswick’s borders like in Belledune where two smelters and ironically the plant that burns the Colombian coal have contaminated the area. An incinerator that plans to burn PCBs is now planned for the area but the citizens refuse to be further dehumanized and contaminated. In the Conservation Council’s recent publication, Dying for Development, author Inka Milewski exposes forty years of government neglect concerning the contamination of Belledune by a lead smelter, now owned by Xstrata, which also owns part of the Cerrejón mine. A 2005 provincial health study revealed that the community had a high death and cancer rate compared to other parts of the province.

Turning Up the Heat

José Julio Pérez visited many towns and cities in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the United States in March 2006 to ask for support including NB Power's in expressing solidarity with and demanding justice and collective relocation for the people who live in the mining area. Solidarity can be as simple as receiving regular updates to stay informed and vigilant of the situation in the affected communities, committing to exerting public pressure (on the mine, on its customers, on government agencies in the home countries of the mine or in the countries that import this coal), or traveling to La Guajira to act as international observers and accompaniment when requested by the communities. The Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network (http://www.arsn.ca) and the Fredericton Peace Coalition (http://www.frederictonpeace.org) are currently organizing efforts on these fronts and can be contacted for more information.

On October 17 [2006], representatives of ARSN and FPC as well as concerned individuals met with NB Power while the UNB/STU Social Justice Society organized a demonstration outside NB Power’s office to generate much needed media attention. The concerned citizens asked that NB Power write a letter urging Cerrejón to respect and uphold internationally recognized human rights and labour norms, and the collective rights of the affected communities for fair relocation and reparations during its negotiation with the union and affected community slated to begin in November. On November 14, NB Power executive director David Hay sent a letter that included these demands to Cerrejón President Leon Teicher.

Francisco Ramirez Cuellar, a fearless union activist in Colombia, responded to the letter from NB Power: “I want to tell you that it provoked a very strong reaction on the part of the company…it is wonderful that the letter was written because the company now is beginning to have to weigh very carefully what the consequences are going to be if it continues to trample on the communities.”

Dr. Timothy Bood from Halifax and Dr. Tom Whitney from Maine visited Colombia in early November and treated many people with medical supplies donated by citizens in Fredericton, Halifax, Maine, and Massachusetts. Debbie Kelly in Halifax is selling handwoven bags made by La Guajira women as an urgent fundraiser for the affected communities. She writes: “while this may be a short term solution at best, it will at least provide food for many who have little or no way for decent meals, especially for the children and [the] sick. Some only eat every three days and for the smiling little children, it is hard to take. Even though their little body is racked in open sores from contaminated water, they don’t cry.”

Meanwhile, an environmental justice campaign to prevent future Belledunes is underway in New Brunswick by the Conservation Council. An Environmental Bill of Rights is proposed to entrench the public’s right to know about environmental and health risks, and to protect civil servants who "blow the whistle" on government inaction when it threatens the environment and health of citizens.

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North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee: http://home.comcast.net/~nscolombia/