2012 IACHR hearing on the Human Rights of People Affected by Metallic Mining in El Salvador

On 4 November 2012, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) held a hearing on the Human Rights of People Affected by Metallic Mining in El Salvador. The hearing was part of the Commission’s 146th Regular Period of Sessions, and held at the request of El Salvador’s Ombudsperson for the Defence of Human Rights (PDDH). The PDDH requested the hearing as a result of the Commission’s interest in its submissions on the state of metallic mining during the previous year’s session, and its request that El Salvador keep the Commission informed of the situation. The PDDH submitted a report on metallic mining and human rights in El Salvador, including its position on the Cerro Blanco transborder mining project. It expressed concern regarding the project’s location on the Trifinio biosphere reserve and argued that, since its approval, “the Cerro Blanco Mining Project has become a slow and certain threat to human life, vegetation, fauna, [and] water resources not only in the Republic of Guatemala, but rather in the Republic of El Salvador as well” (PDDH, 2012). The PDDH also made oral submissions at the hearing, along with representatives from the Water Forum and the National Roundtable Against Metallic Mining (Mesa Nacional). A video of the hearing is available in the IACHR reference below.

Prior to the hearing, a panel discussion was held at the Consulate of El Salvador in Washington D.C., where the PDDH, together with the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), presented on the implications of the Cerro Blanco mine in the border region of El Salvador and Guatemala. IPS is a think tank based in Washington D.C. “dedicated to building a more equitable, ecologically sustainable, and peaceful society.” CISPES is a grassroots organization founded in 1980 that supports “Salvadoran people’s struggle for social and economic justice.”

In January 2013, the PDDH announced that it was seeking a “special hearing” at the IACHR focused on the Cerro Blanco mining project and the risk of heavy metal water contamination, indicating that it would request that the IACHR conduct a mediation between El Salvador and Guatemala the following March. In the meantime, the matter continued to be managed through diplomatic channels. Goldcorp Inc. ultimately suspended the project in July 2013, but has since sold it to Bluestone Resources Inc., which is in the process of finalizing its feasibility studies. At the time of writing (September 2018), no further developments have been reported on the request for a special hearing at or mediation by the IACHR on Cerro Blanco.