Colombia: consultation is a must!

From Colombia we heard news that a Judge in the region of Choco (situated in the west of Colombia on the Pacific coast) has suspended for six months the licenses, concessions and studies granted to mining in more than 50,000 hectares.

Going back to October 2012 the Land Unit from the Ministry of Agriculture filed a lawsuit against the National Mining Agency. At that time the Mining Agency has issued 13 titles covering 40,000 hectares, 13,000 of which were part of indigenous lands. The judge ordered security forces to recover, in the shortest time possible, the territory and ordered to the companies involved to withdraw personnel and machinery from the territory.

It is said, according to the Agencia Intercultutral de Noticias de Bolivia (AINI), the judge based the case on the fact that the Indigenous communities living in the area were never asked; in other words they were not consulted as required by the ILO Convention 169 and UNDRIP – both signed and ratified by Colombia.

Mining and human rights in Colombia and Latin America

ABColombia and the Human Rights Consortium invites to a conference regarding the impact that mining do have in different sectors in Latin America, more specifically in Colombia. The invitation was forwarded by Prof Graham Dutfield, University of Leeds and we thank him for it.

The event provides us with an opprotunity to hear experts from disciplines such as: public bodies; legal scholars and practitioners; as well as the mining industry [I guess a coin not only has two sides]. Moreover and closelly related to this blog is the fact that the conference will give space to indigenous communities who will be participating in it. The latter will share the impact that mining has in their communities.

The conferece takes place on Monday 12 November 2012, 9am-6pm at Beveridge Hall, Senate House,Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU. Entry is £20/£10 (concessions).

For more information contact Laura Ouseley, Information and Communications Officer, ABColombia at abcolombia@abcolombia.org.uk