CIEL and partner organizations fight to stop human rights abuses by Canadian mining companies operating in Guatemala - Center for International Environmental Law

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The Center for International Environmental Law is part of an international coalition working with Guatemalan
organizations to defend the rights of communities adversely affected by Goldcorp and other Canadian mining companies in Guatemala.

Press Releases:

Guatemala Suspends Marlin
Mine: Human rights and environmental organizations applaud the decision,
urge President Colom’s government to protect communities against retaliation.
Scientists find elevated levels of potentially toxic metals in some
Guatemalans living near Canadian-owned mine, recommend further studies,
18 May 2010, in English and Spanish.
Guatemalan community leaders ask Canadian government to investigate human rights violations committed by Goldcorp Inc. at Marlin Mine, 9 December 2010.
Canadian Government Accepts Complaint
Against Goldcorp; Affected Communities Urge Investigation, CIEL,
31 March 2010.

Complaint to the Canadian National Contact Point under the OECD Guidelines
for Multinational Enterprises:

Specific
Instance Complaint submitted to the Canadian National Contact Point,
December 2009.
Response from Frente
de Defensa San Miguelense (FREDEMI) to the National Contact Point’s
Letter of March 24, 2010.

Community Petitions, Letters and Declarations:

Sign-on Letter to Guatemalan President Colom, Requesting the Closure of the Marlin Mine, 10 November 2010.
Letter from Goldcorp, re: Campaign Soliciting Letters to President of Guatemala to Suspend Goldcorp’s Mine in Guatemala, 21 October 2010.
Letter to Goldcorp from the Departmental Assemby of Huehuetenango
for the Defense of Natural Resources asking
for the suspension of its mining activities in Guatemala, 19 May
2010.
Letter presented to the Canadian embassy by over 10,000 people marching
in the capital on 22 April 2010 in both Spanish and English.
International NGO Letter to Guatemalan
President Colom (and list
of organizations supporting the request) supporting the Petition,
April 2010.
Petition
to Guatemalan President Colom, urging him to implement the International
Labor Organization’s recommendation to suspend mining licenses, March
2010.

Articles, Videos, Photos:

“Paradise
Lost” – investigation on Canadian mining companies in Guatemala,
aired on CTV’s W5 on Aril 17, 2010,
“80 Organizations
Ask to Suspend Mining Activity in the Country” in Guatemala’s Prensa Libra on 6 April 2010.
Video on community
referenda on mining in Guatemala.
Video “All
that Glitters Isn’t Gold” on Goldcorp Inc. in Honduras and
Guatemala.

Technical Reports:

Joris van de Sandt, “Mining Conflicts and Indigenous Peoples
in Guatemala,” September 2009 in both English and Spanish.
COPAE, First
Annual Water Monitoring Report for San Miguel Ixtahuacan and Sipakapa,
2008 (Spanish only).
COPAE, Second Annual Water Monitoring Report for San Miguel Ixtahuacan
and Sipakapa, 2009 in English and Spanish.
COPAE and Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, “Preliminary
Investigation and Analysis of Building Damage in the Villages of Agel,
El Salitre, San José Ixcaniche, and San José Nuev Esperanza,
San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipacapa Municipalities, San Marcos
Department, Guatemala,” 2009 in English and Spanish.
Acoguate, Territorios
Indígenas y Democracía Guatemalteca Bajo Presiones,
2009.
International Labor Organization, Report
of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations,
2010.
UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding
Observations on Guatemala, 2010 (Spanish only).
Toxic Metals and Indigenous Peoples Near the Marlin Mine in Western
Guatemala: Potential Exposures and Impacts on Health, 2010, in English and Spanish.
Organization of American States’ Human Rights Commission Urges Suspension
of Mining Activity at Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine, 2010.

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