OECD investigation regarding human rights abuse and environmental pollution at the Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia
The complaints cover the following points: the forced displacement of indigenous communities; air and water pollution; existence of harmful metals in the blood of those living near the mines and the company’s refusal to comply with Colombia’s court judgements against it.
Dr Gearóid Ó Cuinn, Director of GLAN said: ‘These parallel complaints in four different countries point to a systematic failure to respect basic human rights standards from the extraction, to the marketing, to the purchasing of Cerrejon coal. The long-standing abuses at the mine have been so egregious that there is no way for enterprises to respect human rights law and do business with Cerrejón’