Cerrejon publishes action plan to address human rights salient issues

May 24, 2024. Cerrejón is pleased to present the action plan to address the Salient Issues identified in our third Human Rights Impact Assessment. This plan aims to mitigate human rights risks and impacts arising from our operations, as well as those of our contractors, suppliers and other business partners. Making this document public is a crucial step for Cerrejón in demonstrating our dedication to transparency and accountability in all our operations as well as our commitment to respecting human rights and strengthening our human rights due diligence process.

Based on Trust Consultores' assessment and the feedback from 19 stakeholder sessions, Cerrejón defined actions in response to the consultant's recommendations. These sessions included employees, contractors, communities, government officials and civil society organizations, all of whom provided input on the preliminary report. The final report was shared in February 2024 and is available here.  The assessment and the resulting action plan demonstrate Cerrejón's commitment to continuous improvement in Human Rights management.

The assessment identified Six Salient Issues where Cerrejón should focus to prevent human rights impacts. They are: i) controlling environmental impacts that may affect the wellbeing of communities; ii) preserving the safety of communities near Cerrejón’s railway line; iii) ensuring safe and decent working conditions for contractors and employees; iv) preventing human rights violations derived from security protection services; v) promoting the sustainability of resettled communities; and vi) acknowledging and respecting ethnic groups' cultural heritage.

To address these issues, Cerrejón has defined several actions, including: developing and executing a Cultural Heritage Management Plan aligned with international standards; implementing projects that strengthen community organizations, ethnic groups and women's leadership; establishing and evaluating resettlement livelihood restoration plans; ensuring an ethnic and gender approach in the training of public forces from the Ministry of Defense and Cerrejón; increasing community participation in environmental studies and strengthening their training on these topics; developing an intervention program to prevent suicidal behavior in municipalities affected by the railway line; implementing the employability strategy with a differential approach for the 6 municipalities in the area of direct influence, including resettlements; among others.

This action plan is a significant milestone in Cerrejón's ongoing journey of updating its operations and enhancing its human rights and social management policies to foster better coexistence with local communities where compliance is ensured through internal and external oversight. Building on over 20 years of progress, including the adoption of international standards and the issuance of our first Human Rights Policy in 2005—revised in 2011 to align with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)—this plan represents Cerrejón’s continued commitment to identifying, preventing, and mitigating human rights impacts.