Acting towards International Companies

This guide was completed within the framework of the programme for the exchange of experiences on economic, social and cultural rights enforceability approaches coordinated by Terre des Hommes France. It is based on stakeholders’ experiences with various practices, cultures and backgrounds in countries such as the Philippines, India, Brazil, Cameroon, Mexico and Senegal.

The Philippines is a country rich in metal resources (gold, copper and chromium) and non-metal because it is in the area called "Pacific Ring of Fire". The Philippine Congress with the Mining Act of 1995 has decided to accelerate industrialization and to encourage economic growth. TheMining Act of 1995 is a law on large scale mining and it completely liberalized the mining industry in the Philippines by allowing 100% foreign economic projects. This is contrary to the Constitution of 1987 which prohibits it.

En Inde du Sud, le Gouvernement du Tamil Nadu créa en 1971 la SIPCOT, chargée alors de jouer un rôle d’accélérateur, de catalyseur dans le développement de parcs industriels sur le territoire étatique. Dans le contexte de libéralisation économique systématisée à la fin des années 90, la mission de la SIPCOT s’est amplifiée et son volume d’activités a augmenté. En l’espace de trente ans, la SIPCOT a développé 19 parcs industriels, sur une surface foncière de 16, 975 acres, facilitant l’implantation de 1882 usines de production, indiennes et étrangères.

A tribe in India has won a stunning victory over one of the world’s biggest mining companies. In an extraordinary move, India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has blocked Vedanta Resources’ controversial plan to mine bauxite on the sacred hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe.


Amnesty International has described the Indian government’s decision to reject the bauxite mine project in Orissa’s Niyamgiri Hills as a landmark victory for the human rights of Indigenous communities.

In the context of the Peoples Summits, the Bi-regional network Europe-Latin America and the Caribbean Enlazando Alternativas, has organised two Tribunal Sessions in the framework of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) on “Neoliberal Policies and European Transnational Corporations (TNCs) in Latin America and the Caribbean”.

These sessions exposed the violations of human rights, labour rights and environmental standards committed by more than 25 multinational companies based in the European Union and their subsidiaries (including Repsol YPF, Unión Fenosa, Suez, Unilever, Ence, Botnia, Shell and European banks such as BBVA and ABN-AMRO) in Latin America and the Caribbean.