First Pre-Consultation Meeting with the Xinka People on the Escobal Mine

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Published: Wednesday, 26 May 2021 10:47

ResistEscobal

Indigenous Xinka authorities and the Ministry of Energy and Mines establish initial agreements regarding the pre-consultation process

The first pre-consultation meeting concerning the Escobal mining license was held on Friday, May 21 of this year in the offices of the Xinka Parliament of Guatemala. The purpose was to identify the entities that will participate as observers and to establish the first set of agreements about how the pre-consultation and consultation process will be carried out.

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Human Rights Advocates and Legal Experts Deliver Blueprint for New International Corporate Accountability Law in Canada

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Published: Friday, 21 May 2021 10:39

CNCA

Today the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) releases draft model legislation that provides lawmakers with a blueprint for writing into Canadian law the corporate duty to respect human rights and the environment.

The draft model law, if adopted, would require Canadian companies to prevent human rights and environmental harm throughout their global operations and supply chains.

Similar laws are in place or being developed in several countries. Canada, however, is falling behind. Instead of legally requiring companies to respect human rights and the environment, Canada encourages them to voluntarily take measures to do so.

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Community and environmental concerns not “pertinent” to Pan American Silver’s business

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Published: Monday, 17 May 2021 11:00

Breaking the Silence

Vancouver-based mining company Pan American Silver held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 12th: the final shareholder meeting for retiring founder and Board Chair Ross Beaty. To shareholders attending online, Beaty narrated a glowing chronicle of Pan American Silver’s socially and environmentally responsible history in Latin America. Yet, when Breaking the Silence and other shareholders submitted questions regarding the social and environmental impacts of the company’s business on communities in Mexico, Peru, Guatemala and Argentina, they were ignored and their questions deemed not “pertinent”.

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Pan American Silver Pressured to Shut Down Community Interference in Guatemala

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Published: Wednesday, 12 May 2021 13:50

Counterpunch

Jen Moore

In the wake of a shooting attack, death threats, and fear of further violence against members of the peaceful resistance to Pan American Silver’s Escobal silver mine in Guatemala, nearly 4,000 people are calling on the Vancouver-based company to halt all community activities in the Central American country.

In mid-April, activists delivered a petition to Pan American Silver urging the company to respect the Indigenous Xinka people’s right to be freely consulted without violence and threats, and to immediately cease interference in their communities. Indigenous leaders such as Secretary-Treasurer of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs Kukpi7 Judy Wilson and Winona LaDuke, former UN Special Rapporteurs Michel Forst and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, and influential authors Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein signed the petition.

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