Outsourcing and fatal accidents
Vanpeperstraete: "In both Colombia and Peru we see outsourcing is the rule rather than the exeption. Core functions - the miners themselves - are being outsourced; outsourced workers earn significantly less, up to a third of thier colleagues.
Furthermore, in Peru we see an average of 18,2 percent fatal accidents in the mining companies, but when we look at the contractors, the agencies have an average of 31,6 percent fatal accidents."
"We see the issues persist", says Vanpeperstraete. “Governments are failing, both in terms of legislative frameworks as well as implementation. That is in essence what the complaint is about.”
Next steps - Road map
Vanpeperstraete: “When it comes to remedying, we proposed to engage and to work together with the governments in question."
The complaint adds to calls made by other institutions to create a detailed road map to address the labour violations mentioned in the complaint. “It's difficult to say what will happen.
Hopefully the commission and trading partners will take up the roadmap,” says Vanpeperstraete, underlining that this roadmap should be detailed and time bound.
