The Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) celebrates the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Colombia, which recognizes the rights to due process and participation of communities and workers in the closure of coal mining projects in the department of Cesar. This ruling comes after years of insistence by these groups, who filed a tutela action. In this case, AIDA contributed with a legal brief that includes the analysis it has conducted on the issue of closure and responsible exit in Latin America, from the perspective of the right to a healthy environment and other human rights.

Below, we share the statement from the communities and workers on the occasion of the ruling.

The Constitutional Court of Colombia issued the first ruling on mine closures in the country (T-029 of 2025). It guaranteed due process and, consequently, the effective participation of the communities and unions representing more than 20,000 people in the more than four municipalities affected by the environmental, social and economic impacts of the first irregular abandonment and closure of large-scale coal mines in Colombia.

We, a group of affected communities and dismissed workers from Cesar and Magdalena, have led a legal action for more than four years to ensure a public dialogue through a large concertation table where the communities, dismissed workers, local authorities and the affected citizens in general of the mining municipalities of La Jagua, El Paso, Becerril and Ciénaga can know and participate in the definition of compensation and restoration measures that the multinational Glencore - Prodeco must carry out in these municipalities as part of its mining abandonment and closure plan, which is in the process of being approved by the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA).

In this ruling, the court determined that the Seventh Administrative Court of Valledupar violated the fundamental right to due process by considering that the multinational company had complied with this participation process with a SINGLE socialization meeting held in November 2022 in these municipalities, which is clearly insufficient and does not comply with what was agreed in the minutes of the meeting, where the commitment of the parties was to convene the GREAT TABLE OF DIALOGUE AND CONCERTATION in the presence of the affected population of these four municipalities.

The court ordered to initiate again the opening of the contempt proceeding against the legal representative of Grupo Empresarial PRODECO S.A. and to review the compliance with the judgment and the agreement contained in these minutes.

We, as communities and unions of the mining corridor, supported by national and international civil society organizations, and represented in court by attorney Rocío Torres Bobadilla, consider that this public roundtable may be the last opportunity for us to make a balance of what has happened in our territories after 25 years of exploitation and achieve measures for Glencore to compensate and restore all the impacts caused.

Therefore:

1. We invite Glencore - Prodeco to a constructive dialogue, to avoid evasive maneuvers and to respect the importance of this judicial decision.
2. We request the Colombian State, headed by the ANLA, the DEFENSORIA and the PROCURADURÍA to accompany us in this process, support this judicial decision and strengthen our protection measures to guarantee our safety as leaders in this process to comply with this ruling.
3. We request national and international organizations to continue supporting us to guarantee a real and effective participation and that this GREAT CONCERTATION TABLE is fulfilled.
    

Finally, we ask the entire population of the country and especially of the municipalities of La Jagua, Becerril, El Paso and Ciénaga to accompany us, support us and join us in a great process to DEFEND THIS JUDICIAL DECISION which is HISTORIC for our territory in order to restore and compensate the serious environmental and social impacts caused by the irregular mining closure and to find measures to address the great poverty and unemployment we are experiencing.

Join us to be heard, to heal our territories and to recover our economy.

Signed by

Junta de acción comunal de Boquerón

Consejo Comunitario Afrodescendiente Coafrovis de la Victoria de San Isidro

Red de Mujeres del Municipio del Paso 

Asamblea Campesina del Cesar por la Restitución y el Buen Vivir 

Asociación de Usuarios Campesinos (ANUC) el Paso 

Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Carbón (Sintracarbón) 

Sindicato Nacional de los Trabajadores de la Industria Minero-Energética (Sintraminergetica) 

Sindicato Nacional de los Trabajadores Mineros 

Asociación del Reguardo Sokorhpa del Pueblo Indígena Yukpa 

Consejo Comunitario Caño Candela de Becerril 

Junta de Acción Comunal del Barrio Don Jaca en Santa Marta 

Corregimiento de Cordobita en Ciénaga (Madgalena) Vereda el Hatillo 

Representante Junta de Acción Comunal Sororia de la Jagua de Ibirico 

Centro de Estudios para la Justicia Social Tierra Digna 

Rocío Torres Bobadilla- defensora de derechos ambientales

National and international organizations and defenders that SUPPORT US:

Universidad del Magdalena 
Universidad del Magdalena Clínica Jurídica 
Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA)
London Mining Network 
PAX Holanda 
PAX Colombia 
CNV Internationaal
Solifonds 
Multiwatch 
ASK Switzerland-Colombia Working Group
Urgewald 
Polen –Transiciones Justas
Ana Catalina Herrara - labor rights defender
Ángela Velandia Cruz – human rights defender