18 May 2010 | News | Linking Alternatives 4
At full blast
Nothing new: European transnational corporation violates Colombian community rights
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Transnational corporation Carbones de Cerrejon and its implementation by force in Colombia, with the complicity of the European Union, was accused of human rights violations before the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal in Madrid. The Tribunal issued 27 rulings on Monday, which is the total amount of cases filed.
Carbones de Cerrejon entered the departments of La Guajira, César and Antioquia. It is a British-Swiss company. Its partners are the companies: AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton and Xstrata (a subsidiary of Swiss company Glencore).
The accusation before the Permanent Peoples Tribunal was filed by Patricia Tobon, of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), and was also supported by the Colombian Movement Force of Wayuu Women and France Amérique Latine from France.
Real World Radio interviewed Tobon after her presentation in Madrid.
She highlighted the human rights violations by Carbones del Cerrejón, its loud blasts of 200 dynamites to extract coal, the water pollution as a result of the use of chemicals and explosives and the pollution with the coal dust.
“The communities are very militarized and any kind of protest held to demand the enforcement of their rights are seen by the state as terrorist acts”, said Tobón. “The corporations do the same”, she added.
Photo: Radio Mundo Real
