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On Tuesday, July 20, the Dialogue “Companies and Human Rights: Challenges, Advances and Opportunities in the Mining and Energy Sector” was held as part of the Meetings on the Road to the 14th International Symposium on Gold, Silver and Copper organized by the National Society of Mining, Petroleum and Energy (SNMPE).

The event was attended by Eduardo Vega, Minister of Justice and Human Rights; Jaime Gálvez, Minister of Energy and Mines; Igor Salazar, president of the National Committee on Companies and Human Rights of CONFIEP, and member of the board of directors of the SNMPE; Germán Zarama, OECD analyst; Jorge Melo Vega, sustainability expert and president of Responde; and Sonia Lou, president of the Human Rights Committee of the SNMPE.

“This has been a firm commitment to dialogue. The recent approval of the National Action Plan on Companies and Human Rights (PNA) shows a maturity and good will of all actors, all 132 State institutions, the business sector, and civil society. This is one of the most comprehensive public policy we have; and after two years the willingness to maintain this process has prevailed,” said the Minister of Justice.

“From the very beginning, I recognize, there has been an active participation of the SNMPE and CONFIEP, as well as of other groups. I believe that this contributes to having today a document that reflects an important consensus based on dialogue; and where disagreements have been disappearing due to profound discussions”, added the Minister.

In turn, Jaime Gálvez, Minister of Energy and Mines, positively remarked on the “due diligence of the companies’ risk management”; calling to identify opportunities to contribute to Human Rights in the area of influence of the companies.

He also pointed out that in the context of the pandemic, mining and energy companies have shown a strong commitment, for example, in the implementation of oxygen plants and in the support to the health sector, which has been very important and has led the government to award the SNMPE with the Citizen Merit Medal by the PCM, in recognition of its contribution to the fight against the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Igor Salazar emphasized that though the dialogue for developing the National Plan had several challenges, it was possible to move forward and produce a valuable document. He also pointed out some of the commitments that the energy and mining sector has been implementing in parallel to its participation in the PNA.

“At SNMPE we have been promoting human rights matters, and it is an area of vital interest for our companies. We have institutionalized it by having a Human Rights Committee since 2017 and by introducing in 2018 a new principle in our code of conduct, principle 10, of respect to human rights, which is annually assessed,” noted Salazar.

“In addition, we have developed a human rights policy template as an input for companies that did not have a policy; we have held more than 30 trainings for companies on due diligence. We developed a first guide for handling complaints and claims in 2013. This has been enriched in a new version this year. Finally, we created principle 11 related to fairness and principle 12 related to climate change,” he added.

Germán Zarama, OECD Focal Point for Responsible Business Conduct, added that another important challenge in the development of the plan is “to ensure its coherence and its continuity in terms of its implementation” by the new administration that will take office this year.

Finally, concluding the day, Sonia Lou stressed the importance of the National Human Rights Plan in this context of pandemic. “The National Plan should be considered as a valuable tool for the sustainability of the country, the prevalence of human rights and of the human being as the center of all its actions,” she explained. The executive also highlighted the participation of the mining and energy sector in the advancement of the human rights approach in its management practices.

Meeting III was held on July 20 at 10:00 am, where the role of companies in human rights and the contribution of the mining and energy sector to these rights was presented.

Moderator

• Jorge Melo Vega, President of Responde

Panelists

• Jaime Gálvez, Minister of Energy and Mines of Peru
• Eduardo Vega, Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Peru
• Igor Salazar, President of CONFIEP’s National Committee on Businesses and Human Rights
• Germán Zarama, Policy Analyst and Focal Point for Latin America and the Caribbean of OECD

Relive Meeting III here: