At Tauccamarca I remember as if it were yesterday. On 22 October 1999 occurred in the Andean village Tauccamarca a tragedy. 44 school children had accidentally taken with their school milk, a highly toxic pesticide. 24 of the children died, others are still suffering from the after-effects. The sequence of events was reconstructed quickly: it was a tragic mix-up of milk and pesticide bag. The contents of the bag, however, was explosive. It was the highly toxic para Transportation. And this product was in Peru by the German company Bayer marketed. The distribution and sale were legal under Peruvian law - but the handling of the distribution showed some negligence. The Transportation Para-bags were also awarded in the Quechua-speaking areas in Peru only in English. Many of the farmers in villages like Tauccamarca also can not read or write. The Para Transportation was distributed and sold as loose as if it were for milk powder.
The victims of the tragedy then, the company sued Bayer for damages. The suit was rejected by the Peruvian court for formal reasons, and Bayer has never admitted responsibility for the tragedy. The parents of the dead children are still waiting for a redress by both the Peruvian State as from the company Bayer.
Her case is one of 20 cases that were brought before the tribunal of nations, which met during the Alternative Summit. 20 multinational companies of European origin have been accused of human rights violations. Bayer is in good company. Accused include Swiss-based Syngenta for their handling of protesters in Brazil, the Norwegian agricultural exporters Camposol for anti-union policy in Peru, the English oil company Repsol for its actions against indigenous communities in Argentina, Ecuador and Brazil.
The Peoples' Tribunal is an initiative of the Italian left from the year 1976, so that the tradition the Russell Tribunals against the Vietnam war took up again. Since then, this unofficial court many times and met very moral judgments, most recently in Bogota on the rights of indigenous peoples in Colombia.
the court is composed from 5 European politicians and activists, as well as 7 representatives of Latin American social movements and leftist parties.
chairman of the court in Lima is the Belgian Catholic priest and emeritus professor of sociology Francois Houtart. "Both of the alternative summit, as well as the tribunal of the people give them a voice at the Summit of Presidents are not present," he said to our questions. The Peoples' Tribunal is a Tribunal review and adopts moral judgments that are received by the public opinion.
What could be changed by that? "Of course, companies can and should change their practices, but basically it's about the logic of the system that destroys the nature and work."
particularly impressed by Francois Houtart the case of the English oil company Repsol. She is active in many Latin American countries and leave all the same problems: pollution of the environment and displacement of indigenous communities.
The court ordered for the conduct of the company, which would CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT by states and international institutions. In this respect, calls it is the States of the European Union to demand binding rules of conduct of their private companies. As a concrete measure
also requested the Court that the UN appoint a Special Rapporteur on violations against the economic, social and cultural human rights.
Victoriano Huarayo Tauccamarca from two of his children have lost in the accident. Bravely, he stops at the entrance of the Technical University to be high sign with the company he so directs Bayer to admit its responsibility. The verdict of the tribunal of nations is a small step toward bringing that his fate is not forgotten.
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