Lyuba Zarsky: Environmental and health effects are a violation of human rights

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- An independent United Nations human rights expert on Wednesday urged the Peruvian Government and indigenous leaders in the country's southeast to hold peaceful dialogue to resolve the deadly conflict over mining and oil development.

You or your organisation has perhaps signed CATAPA's no-go zones for mining-petition. Thank you very much for this. You supported the farmers and environmental organisations of four provinces in North-Peru, which try to prevent mining activities in their area. Because of the fact that mining companies harm human rights, cross local development plans and threaten the most bio-diverse area in the world, the tropical Andes, as this may cause irreparable damage. Below you find an extensive list of achievements of our campaign.

Intag residents lose much more than a lawsuit against the Toronto Stock Exchange and Copper Mesa

(© Upside Down World, 26/04/11) On December 2, 2006, 14 paramilitaries armed with 38-caliber guns and pepper spray fired into a group of unarmed Ecuadorian campesinos from a community that has been resisting a copper mining project for over a decade. Thankfully no one was killed, but there were several injuries, not to mention the psychological suffering caused by such a vicious attack. This assault led three of the local campesinos from Intag, Ecuador to file a lawsuit against the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and Copper Mesa Corporation, the Canadian mining company responsible for hiring the "security firm" that sent the paramilitaries to intimidate the anti-mining residents of the region.