Release: Amicus Brief Highlights Impacts of Mining in $77 Million Investment Arbitration Case http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=805&Itemid=1

the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), on behalf of civil society organizations of the Mesa Nacional Frente a la Minería Metálica (Mesa), filed an amicus curiae brief in the Pac Rim Cayman LLC v. Republic of El Salvador case, currently being heard at the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The Mesa is a coalition of human rights and environmental organizations working to ban metals mining in El Salvador.

The amicus curiae brief emphasizes the devastating impact on the local environment and on the human rights of the people that depend upon that environment. Moreover, the investor failed to adequately assess the environmental impacts of the mine. Widespread community opposition to mining has led the government of El Salvador to recognize the destructive environmental and social impacts that metals mining poses. This recognition has spurred the country to impose a moratorium on new mining permits.

[also watch>Fighting For Our Very Lives- Pacific Rim in El Salvador http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=802&Itemid=1