Cerrejón and families from the afro descendent community of Roche sign a important agreement that strengthens engagement and trust

18 July, 2022. Cerrejón and the families from the Afro descendent community of Roche have signed a important agreement within the formal consultation process that was required by ruling 058 from 2016. In the ruling, the Council of State had required to extend the benefits received by the 25 families that were collectively resettled from this community to families that had sold their plots and improvements to Cerrejón between 1997 and 2003, when Cerrejón voluntarily adopted the social and environmental performance standards of the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

This accord represents an opportunity to strengthen engagement and recover trust. The implementation of the agreements is expected to take between 6 and 8 months.

“Today, Roche reached a great agreement with Cerrejón, in the presence of the Ministry of the Interior and guarantor entities of this process that took more than five years. Today there was an agreement that largely benefits the inhabitants of the Roche community. Those inhabitants who had left in 1997, today benefit from this, which is very pleasant for us. This is an opportunity for each of the families because it comes at a very good time after the pandemic affected the economy of so many households,” said Eder Arregoces Pinto, a member of the Roche Community Council.

“Cerrejón is pleased with the signing of these agreements that contribute to strengthen the ties with the community and demonstrate our commitment to complying with Colombian law and with the international standards that we have been adopting to make responsible mining possible. This agreement has established the commitment to apply the standard of the International Finance Corporation to the beneficiaries of the Council’s decision, which we adopted after having carried out the negotiation processes with members of the Roche community. Today, with the signing of these agreements, we complete a cycle and demonstrate our responsibility to the communities and La Guajira”, said Juan Carlos García Otero, Manager of Social Affairs at Cerrejón.

 Following the guidelines of the social and environmental performance standards of the International Finance Corporation, Cerrejón has carried out resettlements with families from the communities of Roche, Patilla, Las Casitas, Chancleta and Tamaquito II.