Project
Photo: Steven Ablitt / Cassiar WatchVictory: Canada supports public participation and environmental assessment
Thanks to a court ruling to which AIDA and our allies contributed, Canadian authorities must allow active participation in all mining and industrial megaprojects, as well as comprehensive environmental impact assessments.
The decision came after a long legal battle that began in 2006. That year, an open-pit copper and gold mine called Red Chris was approved without the adequate evaluation of its environmental impacts. It was sleighted to process 30 thousand metric tons a day.
The Imperial Metals company intended to build the mine in the Kapplan River Valley, a remote and pristine natural area home to large mammals such as Dali’s sheep, caribou, bears and moose. In addition, the area is part of the migratory salmon route and the Tathlan indigenous community lives nearby.
The company had fragmented the project into small parts to avoid evaluating the full impact of the project, thus violating international standards and the right to public participation.
In 2009 AIDA filed a brief with Canada’s Supreme Court in support of a lawsuit filed against the project by MiningWatch and Ecojustice.
The ruling remains a powerful tool to protect huge expanses of pristine and valuable land for its biodiversity, water sources, and the culture of indigenous communities.
It was a watershed moment in terms of ensuring companies fulfill their obligations when developing projects that put at risk the natural environment and those who depend on it.
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International Principles for Responsible Divestment from Fossil Fuels
Against the backdrop of an ever-worsening climate emergency, companies must rapidly withdraw from the extraction of coal, oil, and gas as well as associated fossil energy industries and ancillary facilities for transport, storage, refining, and processing. The urgent need to quit fossil fuels, however, does not justify irresponsible divestment by fossil energy companies. Rapid closure and responsible closure of the fossil fuel industry are not mutually incompatible agendas. Both are vital to achieve climate and environmental justice and a just energy transition.In the absence of responsible divestment policies and practices, communities are left facing legacy pollution, as well as the long-term health risks that come from abandoned infrastructure that is not properly decommissioned and a lack of proper ecosystem restoration. Many communities also confront significant loss of livelihoods and financial hardship as the fossil fuel industry divests with no regard for the local economic consequences, particularly where economic dependencies have been built up over time.Rooted in the lived experiences and demands of communities and workers affected by fossil fuel activities around the world, and in line with existing international obligations of states and international frameworks for corporate accountability, including the responsibility to respect human rights, these International Principles for Responsible Divestment from Fossil Fuels set out a positive agenda that all companies and states must follow to advance a just transition. They are designed to shift the power imbalance currently favouring powerful companies and states in order to ensure that affected communities and workers have agency and control over how fossil fuel divestment occurs. They are intended to be followed by companies and made obligatory by the states. Read and download the document
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Families in La Oroya are calling on the Peruvian government to take four urgent actions to ensure effective compliance with the Inter-American Court’s ruling
In the absence of significant progress, they are calling on the government to identify the entities responsible for implementing each measure ordered by the Court, to provide comprehensive and specialized health care, to ensure the mitigation of pollution from the La Oroya Metallurgical Complex, and to immediately pay compensation to the victims of the case. La Oroya, Peru. Given the minimal progress made in complying with the ruling issued two years ago by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, families affected by decades of pollution in La Oroya are demanding that the government urgently take four necessary steps to ensure the effective implementation of the ruling in the short term.On March 22, 2024, the international court issued a ruling holding the Peruvian government responsible for human rights violations against a group of 80 residents of La Oroya and ordering it to take comprehensive remediation measures. However, implementation of the ruling remains in its early stages, primarily due to the government’s lack of political will and its constant shifting of arguments to delay the process. Progress to date has been limited to publicizing the ruling, making payments to the Victims’ Fund established by the Court, and launching criminal investigations into the stigmatization and persecution of victims for their environmental defense work.Furthermore, in the two years since the ruling was issued, the La Oroya Metallurgical Complex, having resumed operations, has once again caused pollution levels in the city to exceed those recommended by the World Health Organization. "The reactivation of the Metallurgical Complex in March 2024, without complying with current environmental standards, once again puts the health of the entire population of La Oroya at risk. Today, neither the victims in this case nor the rest of the city’s residents are guaranteed access to healthcare in the face of pollution. Furthermore, there is no clarity on when this situation will end, which creates significant uncertainty due to the government’s failure to act," stated Rosa Peña, senior attorney at the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA), the organization bringing the case before the Court alongside the Pro Human Rights Association (APRODEH) of Peru. In light of this situation, the group of victims in the case is calling on the Peruvian government to move forward with implementing the ruling through four urgent actions:Issue a resolution determining jurisdiction that clearly defines which entity is responsible for each court order, and establishes a budget and specific implementation deadlines.Adopt and implement a specialized protocol for comprehensive health care, developed with the active participation of victims and with sufficient funding.Suspend operations at the Metallurgical Complex until an environmental management plan is in place that complies with the standards established by the Court; and evaluate transitional measures for property owners and workers to prevent further social impacts.Pay compensation to the victims as ordered by the Court. After more than 20 years of struggle, the landmark ruling in the case has yet to translate into better living conditions for the victims or into reparations for the harm they suffered. "It is deeply concerning that, two years after the ruling was issued, the government has not yet determined which agencies will be responsible for enforcing each of its provisions. This situation makes it impossible to even establish a forum for direct coordination on behalf of the victims and the general population of La Oroya and the country regarding mining and metallurgical activities. Let us not forget that the Court also ordered public policies at the national level to protect the environment and health in Peru," said Christian Huaylinos of APRODEH’s legal department.Although Peru’s political instability has played a role, the main obstacle to steady progress in implementing the binding international ruling has been the government’s lack of determination. Press contactLorena Zárate | AIDA | [email protected] | +52 553902 7481
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Trade rules for a living planet: reforming the WTO for economic and environmental justice
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