2010 ILO Criticizes Guatemala on Mining and Indigenous Communities [Escobal]

In 2010, the International Labour Organization (ILO) Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) released a report criticizing Guatemala for, despite earlier comments made in 2005, 2006, and 2007, continuing to issue mining licences without consultation with indigenous communities and for failing to compensate indigenous communities for damages sustained or “make efforts to reduce the impact of exploitation”. The Committee requested “the Government to neither grant nor renew any licence for the exploration and exploitation of natural resources as referred to in Article 15 of the Convention while the participation and consultation provided for by the Convention are not being carried out, and to provide information in this regard.”  These findings were made in relation to the Committee’s assessment of Guatemala’s obligations under the ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. The Committee received comments on this issue from “the Union Movement, Guatemalan Indigenous and Agricultural Workers for the Defence of Workers’ Rights, of which the General Confederation of Workers of Guatemala (CGTG) forms a part, the Trade Union Confederation of Guatemala (CUSG), the National Trade Union and Peoples’ Coordinating Body (CNSP), the National Federation of Trade Unions of Public Employees of Guatemala (FENASTEG), the Trade Union Federation of Farm Workers (FESOC), the Trade Union of Health Workers of Guatemala, the Eastern Distribution Workers’ Union and the Trade Union Confederation of Guatemala (UNSITRAGUA)” (ILO Report, 2010). The CEACR has continued to review Guatemala’s compliance and issued recommendations for consultation processes with Indigenous peoples and reform of mining legislation in order to comply with the provisions of Convention No. 169.