Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 7 December 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence

Engagement with the Irish Coalition for Business and Human Rights

Mr. Conor O'Neill:

On behalf of Christian Aid and the coalition, I sincerely thank Ms Mateus Parra for her passionate speech about what has happened in Cerrejón and how communities have been impacted. We stand in full solidarity and support with them. In many ways that is one of the main reasons for our presence today.

Last year, Christian Aid Ireland published detailed research on the situation at the mine and, crucially, details on the Irish links with the mine. First, for two decades, the State-owned Electricity Supply Board imported millions of tonnes of coal from the Cerrejón mine despite years of extremely serious human rights abuses and environmental harms being associated with the mine. Since 2001, the mine has provided the bulk of the coal burned at Moneypoint power plant in County Clare.

Ms Mateus Parra and our other Colombian partners rightly ask that we question the energy we consume. We must ask ourselves where does it come from and how does it get here. We cannot ignore that this coal, which is burned to light our homes and help fuel the country, has been drawn along a supply chain that is littered with really serious human rights concerns. These concerns range from displacement and intimidation to ecological destruction, the pollution of air, soil and water, and the associated health and respiratory problems. This simply is not consistent with the ESB's obligations under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Of course, these principles, which were agreed multilaterally, apply to State-owned companies, such as ESB, but also to the many multinationals based here. Ireland has a particular responsibility in this regard.

Our foreign direct investment, FDI, model and low-tax environment have made the country a magnet and hub for some of the biggest, most powerful companies in the world. This can bring employment and tax revenue but it also brings a requirement to ensure those companies are adequately regulated and operating responsibly.

The case of the Cerrejón mine illustrates this well. While the coal is mined more 7,500 km away on the other side of the world, its sale and delivery is managed through a small subsidiary based in Dublin. The Coal Marketing Company, CMC, was established in 2003 by the mining giants which then owned Cerrejón - BHP, Anglo American, and Glencore. In the years since, it has recorded billions of dollars in revenue and not only does much of the coal flow from Colombia to Europe, some of the profit does too. In Cerrejón, we see the role powerful corporate actors can play in fuelling human rights abuses as well as, ultimately, the failure of states to adequately hold them accountable.

As my colleague, Mr. Walsh, will set out in detail, Ireland and other EU states have so far taken a largely voluntary approach, which seeks to encourage corporate respect for human rights, rather than make it mandatory. That is precisely where our coalition's proposal and report come in.

Christian Aid and many of the international aid and development organisations in the coalition have been active on this issue, because we see the impact businesses can have on human rights all over the world, in the different countries in which we work. It is crucial to say it is not just about Colombia, or one country or context. It is about a global power dynamic in which a relatively small number of companies yield huge influence, generate significant profit, but can often evade accountability when they are engaged in human right abuses. The complexity of modern corporate structures and elaborate supply chains have made it even more difficult for impacted communities such as those La Guajira to seek justice, often across borders and several jurisdictions.

There are many more examples of this dynamic in industries ranging from mining to textiles, in the EU and in Ireland, contained in the report. It also includes the case of a Palestinian man, Awni Shaaeb, whose farmland in the occupied West Bank was seized by Israeli settlers and a settlement established on it. The members will be aware this is illegal under international law. It is a presumptive war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but over the years the settlement has nonetheless expanded and Mr. Shaaeb can no longer access much of his land to farm.

However, any of us can this afternoon log onto airbnb.ieand book a holiday rental in the illegal settlement built on his family’s land. Those bookings are made through Airbnb Ireland, based in Dublin’s docklands. What makes this more egregious still is that the rental is made under conditions of inherent discrimination. Israeli citizens and, indeed, international tourists can pay to stay there, but Palestinians are effectively prohibited. Here we have a company based in Ireland, profiting from these rentals, despite the unambiguous illegality of the settlement project and the myriad human rights abuses associated with it.

Airbnb, to its credit, publicly recognised this in 2018 and announced it would de-list these properties over human rights concerns. Sadly, in the wake of intense pressure and potential legal action, the decision was at least temporarily reversed.

The crucial point is that these cases and the others included in the research, are illustrative of a much wider trend. The uncomfortable truth is that many large European companies, including some based in Ireland, have been linked to serious human rights and environmental harms throughout their supply chains and global operations. It is very important EU member states take action to tackle this. My colleague, Mr. Walsh, will speak in more detail about our proposal for new, binding corporate accountability legislation to help address this.