A new Peace Brigades International (PBI) UK investigation shows links between UK companies, environmental devastation and attacks on rights activists calling for a law to ensure effective due diligence.
Following an extensive investigation, PBI UK has released a report that details six cases from Colombia, Honduras, Indonesia and Mexico in which human rights defenders have faced brutal reprisals for standing up to extractive industries with links to UK companies or investors.
PBI UK is one of multiple NGOs calling for the UK government to pass a law making it mandatory for businesses to commit to human rights and environmental due diligence in their operations, investments and supply chains.
Below are some of the key findings of the report, titled: ‘The Case For Change: Why human rights defenders need a UK law on mandatory due diligence’:[1]
- Community leaders in Mexico were murdered in 2018 and 2021 after standing up to illegal mining on their land by a subsidiary of Fresnillo PLC, a UK company.
- Indigenous leader arrested and reportedly threatened after questioning consultation processes connected to an UK-backed wind farm installed on communal land.
- Assassination attempts against human rights defenders in Colombia who have alleged that UK-based Amerisur’s oil exploitation caused pollution of Amazon.
- Effective due diligence by companies could have avoided environmental devastation and escalation of attacks on human rights defenders
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE
“Sadly, these examples show that some businesses can’t be trusted to prevent environmental and human rights abuses in their operations and supply chains. Brave human rights defenders are paying the ultimate price,” PBI UK Advocacy Manager Christina Challis said. “A mandatory due diligence law is needed to obligate UK businesses to identify, prevent, and mitigate their impacts, and to ensure there are consequences if they don’t. This will mean that less communities need to take a stand, and lead to less risks for those who choose to.”
The PBI UK report comes after the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre documented 209 attacks on human rights defenders connected to UK companies between 2015 and 2023, with 30 activists murdered. Over 150 UK businesses, Parliamentarians from across the political spectrum, and a coalition of civil society organizations are behind the call for the UK government to pass a mandatory due diligence law. YouGov polling shows 4 in 5 adults in the UK support this call.
The EU passed a directive on this in 2023 and other countries have also legislated to hold corporations to account for failing to ensure rights and the environment are respected in their supply chains.
“The UK is behind the curve”, said Challis. “Labor can only live up to its pre-election promises to protect rights and the environment if they hold corporations to account”.
The cases in the report include:
Environmental catastrophe and threatened Indigenous leaders in Colombia: UK-listed companies and the Cerrejón coal mine.
Questionable consultation processes and criminalization of project opponents in Mexico: UK financing of the Eólica del Sur wind farm.
Oil spills and assassination attempts in the Amazon of Colombia: UK-listed Amerisur’s oil fields.
Illegal extraction and the murder of environmentalists in Mexico: UK-listed Fresnillo’s gold mine.
Devastated ecosystems and tortured human rights defenders in Indonesia: The UK’s Rio Tinto and the Grasberg gold and copper mine.
Jailing and killing of water defenders in Honduras: The opaque export chains of iron from the Los Pinares mine.
For any questions you may have regarding the report, please reach out to benleather@peacebrigades.org.uk.
[1] PBI UK has endeavored to include company responses to allegations in the report, where available. See the main body of the report for details.