The report brings strong evidences on social and environmental devastation caused by the architecture of corporate impunity in this country. It exposes the extent to which the most industrialized regions of the country are characterized by systematic air, water and soil pollution, compounded by unbridled urbanization and the proliferation of landfill sites and dumping grounds for highly toxic waste. This has led to a health and environmental emergency, in which the numbers of people dying due to diseases likely to be associated with corporate operations in different sectors are overwhelming.
One of the things that the Caravan’s international observers found most striking is the capacity to resist and organize protest developed by the affected communities in the six regions. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and taking advantage of the visibility they had achieved, partly thanks to the Caravan, these organisations kept up the pressure on the government. And in 2021 they achieved a historic step forward, which could set a precedent for other regions both in Mexico and around the world. Government compliance with its commitments here is as urgent as it is necessary, and must be monitored by civil society in Mexico and internationally.
The recommendations addressed to policy makers include the Mexican but also the US and European governments and parliaments, as US and European transnational corporations (TNCs) were present in practically all the environmental hells the Caravan visited. The report counted, among others, with contributions of the Mexican organisations of affected peoples, international observers, members of the Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity, as well as the European Network on Corporate Observatories (ENCO), and other independent researchers. It gives new evidences on the urgent need for binding regulations, in particular in the process of negotiation of the UN Binding Treaty on transnational corporations (TNCs) with respect to human rights.
The report is also a tool for the civil society mobilisation on the Trade and Investment front. For instance, the renegotiation of the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mexico will strengthen corporate power still further and could hamper the implementation of policies committed to human rights in Mexico.
Contributors:
Martín Álvarez-Mullaly, Iñaki Barcena, Lucía Bárcena, Lucía Benavides, Lorenzo Bozada, Cristina Caldera, Alan Carmona, Refugio Choreño, Peter Clausing, Thomas Dürmeier, Sofía Enciso, Graciela González, Ralf Häußler, Julisa Hernández, Fabiola Lara, Martin Mantxo, Julia Martí, Cindy McCulligh, Alejandra Méndez Serrano, Laura Méndez Rivas, Rocío Montaño, Bettina Müller, Cecilia Olivet, Mercedes Páramo, Mayra Peña Contreras, Manuel Pérez Rocha, Olivier Petitjean, Federico Pohls Fuentevilla, Alejandra Ramírez Varela, Patricia Rendón, Giovanna Segura, Sabrina Spitznagel, Mónica Vargas, Oswaldo Villegas, the teams from Taula per Mèxic and Multiwatch, and the offices of MEP Leïla Chaibi and Senator Patricia Torres Ray (Minnesota, USA).
With contributions from Corporate Accountability