«Il n‘y a pas un monde développé et un monde sous-développé, mais un seul monde mal développé»
PRESS RELEASE
Frente de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos del Perú, Resistencia Activa Ya ! Coaltion suisse contre Glencore, CETIM
Geneva, 27th of June 2025
In the 56th session of the Human Rights Council, a representative from the farmers’ community of San Marcos, located in the Ancash region (Peru), denounced publicly the mining corporation Antamina – owned by the Anglo-swiss company Glencore among others – for violations of Right to Water and to Health of its population.
During a panel on the obstacles to the realization of the Right to Water and Sanitation, the community’s representative underlines Antamina’s actions which depleted our water sources in the San Marcos district, leaving my community without access to this vital resource. He also warned that the remaining water is contaminated with lead and arsenic, posing a serious threat to public health.
He also denounced that the destruction of lakes and rivers is an offense to basic human dignity, affecting not only the community’s daily life, but also its farming and livestock activities : It has deprived us of our future.
In this declaration, he asked the Peruvian State to respect its international commitments on Human Rights and to reconsider policies that allow the expansion of Antamina’s activities. He also called on the Swiss State – Glencore’s home country – to assume its responsibility for the activities of companies located on its territory that cause damages in third countries, insisting on the adoption of effective regulatory mechanisms.
This action at the UN has been promoted jointly by the San Marcos’s community, CETIM and the network «Resistencia Activa Ya» ! as part of an international strategy to denounce violations committed by transnational corporations in Latin America. These organizations pointed out that Glencore has been the subject of numerous complaints for environmental and social damages in various parts of the world.
During the advocacy week, the representative was able to meet UN organizations in order to ask for support to the community’s legitimate claims against Glencore. In this context, a referral is in preparation and will be presented to the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council.
Confronted with the dispossession and predation of transnational corporations, it is more than urgent to remain mobilized and stand in solidarity with the struggles of peoples and communities.
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