2006-2014 Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal hearings on Canadian mining in Latin America [Guatemala/Marlin]

Between 2006 and 2010, the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) held three hearings as part of a session, entitled the “European Union and transnational corporations in Latin America: policies, instruments and actors complicit in the violations of peoples’ rights.” This session included testimony and evidence relating to the Marlin Mine in Guatemala. In respect to this project, the Tribunal found that Goldcorp Inc. had violated “the right of self-determination and self-government as well as the right to ownership, possession, use and administration of land and territories, according to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” It further held that, “the company has colluded with the Guatemalan government to criminalize social struggle and protest by bringing 18 court cases against the farming community in San Miguel Ixtahuacán” (PPT Judgment, 2010).

In 2008, a separate two-day hearing before the PPT during the Social Forum of the Americas, was held in Guatemala. The panel considered seven cases, including one brought by the Communities and Victims of Maya Mam and Sipacapense Indigenous Peoples, the Municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacán, and the Council of Municipal Communities of Sipakapa, in partnership wtih the Community Social Organizations, the Association of Integral Development of San Miguel Ixtahuacán (ADISMI), the Pastoral Commission on Peace and Ecology (COPAE), the Workers and Peasants Movement (MTC), the Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation, Rights in Action, and the Association for Community Promotion and Development Association (CEIBA). At the end of the hearing, the panel delivered its verdict in front of hundreds of victims and affected communities. The panel, among other things: (1) admonished the governments of Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras, along with the home states of the companies operating in these countries, the European Union and various international financial institutions, (2) urged governments to comply with consultation rights and national and international environmental law prior to granting mining concessions, (3) urged governments to comply with national and international law on the rights of workers, and recommended that social and labour organizations work towards the creation of an international legal framework for the regulation and prosecution of transnational companies (PPT, 2008)

In December 2014, the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal released its verdict relating to a hearing on Canadian mining in Latin America, held over four days in May/June 2014. With respect to Guatemala, the Tribunal focused largely on the Escobal mining project. However, some reference to the Marlin Mine was also made. Overall the Tribunal found that Canadian mining companies (including Goldcorp Inc.) based in Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and Chile, “have committed multiple human rights violations”, including the rights to life, self-determination, and full citizenship (PPT Ruling, 2014).