stifling dissent

stifling dissent
colombia’s mining law

“Because of the death threats and the disappearance of my brother, we were forced to leave our parcel, again leaving all that we had built up in all that time. I was left with nothing except a lot of grief and sadness for the loss of my family.” Elvia Quiroga, whose brother Edgar was one of the hundreds of mine worker’s leaders who disappeared in recent years in Colombia.

corporations: anglo americain (united kingdom/south africa), bhp billiton (australia), and many other mining corporations

mining projects jeopardize the livelyhod of colombia's U'wa indigenous people

In early November 2003, Colombian miners’ union leaders called upon the world for support. The World Bank, mining multinationals and the Colombian government led by Álvaro Uribe Vélez ordered the total liquidation of the state mining sector, giving companies free reign to snatch up the country’s natural resources. Mineworkers are fiercely opposing this development, which makes their already vulnerable situation even more perilous.

The mining industry has dramatically transformed Colombian society. Before colonization, indigenous communities used minerals carefully – for ceremonial purposes, for war, and for medicine. During the Spanish invasion in the early 19th century, minerals and metals were plundered, smelted and exported to Europe. This exploitation launched the decimation of aboriginal populations in mining regions.

With the entry of International Financial Institutions onto the scene in the 1990s, natural resource exploitation intensified. In 1995, the World Bank imposed new mining legislation on Colombia and other countries in the region. The Colombian laws were drafted by the same firm retained by Santa Fe, the oil corporation owned by then-President Pastrana. The new laws cemented the privatization of state regulatory agencies, changed the definition of “ownership” of natural resources, transferred environmental control from the state to corporations, increased labor flexibility, and transferred conflict arbitration to tribunals operating outside of the country

These changes were accompanied by an alarming increase in applications for mining concessions. They have also led to increased poverty in the mining regions of the country, partly due to the unequal distribution of the mere 0.4% of royalties that mining companies are obliged to pay to the state.

In 2003, the World Bank ordered President Uribe Vélez to sell the national mining company, MINERCOL. This privatization will effectively abolish any lingering control retained by social organizations to help them avoid dangerous mining contracts. The fate of Colombia’s mine workers will rest solely with the multinationals, many of which have seriously tarnished human rights records.

rights violations
Mining interventions in Colombia have been accompanied by grave violations of economic, social, cultural and human rights, and the changes pushed for by the World Bank have deepened the misery of people living in mining regions. According to studies on social exclusion from the Contraloría General de la República, the ‘misery index’ in mining areas is now at 64%, while unemployment in some mining regions is around 50%.

The human rights situation in Colombia is one of the worst in the world. According to Amnesty International, 90% of Colombian human rights violations take place in mining and petroleum districts. There have been 433 massacres in 8 years in these regions. In the six mining departments, homicide has risen by more than 450% since 1995. Mine workers are among the most affected: 42% of the human rights violations of workers happen in the mining sector where, on average, one union leader is assassinated every month.

Mining unions in Colombia are demanding that the government stop accepting human rights abuses and military violence against unarmed populations, workers and union leaders in its eagerness to smooth the way for foreign mining companies. Furthermore, these corporations, which include Anglo American and BHP Billiton, must immediately abstain from acts of violence and operations that sabotage the country’s sovereignty and sustainability. Finally, the unions demand that the World Bank suspend its interference in national legislation, and launch processes to repair the impacts of its policies on the people of Colombia.

more information:
Friends of the Earth Colombia: www.censat.org