Read the final statement published by the NCP - September 2018
On 8 June 2011, the Argentinian NCP (ANCP) received a submission from the NGO “Foro Ciudadano de Participación para la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos” (FOCO) alleging that the multinational enterprise Barrick Gold Corporation had breached the following chapters of the OECD Guidelines: Concepts and principles, Disclosure, Environment, General policies, Human rights.
On December 2011, the NGO added additional information and after undertaking an initial assessment, the ANCP accepted the specific instance on May 2013.
The NGO claimed that mining activities were polluting air, soil and water in the adjacent towns of the mining operations, affecting glaciers and biodiversity as well. It also complained that the company was not informing the inhabitants properly about the impact of their operations.
The ANCP held several meetings with both parties separately, actively seeking to engage them in bilateral conversations.
On March 2018, the parties held a meeting for the first time with the presence of the ANCP. On 9 April 2018, the NGO sent a letter to the ANCP informing that it was going to withdraw the specific instance, complaining on the lack of guarantees by the ANCP in terms of transparency, impartiality and efficiency. On June 2018, the company sent a letter to the ANCP indicating that it had no objections to closing the specific instance, considering that the ANCP acted properly in terms of transparency, impartiality and efficiency.
On September 2018, the NCP published the final statement concluding the case.