RIO TINTO PLC: RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION

Summary

That this House is deeply disturbed to learn of the class action complaint filed in the USA courts, in respect of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, accusing London-based Rio Tinto, the mining conglomerate, that in operating its Panguna Copper Mine, the most productive in the world, it treated the indigenous people as inferior and expendable, through apartheid, racial discrimination and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, constituting gross violation of their human rights, that Rio Tinto destroyed Bougainville's forests, fauna and river systems, generating billions of tons of toxic waste, killing animal and plant life, turning vast, fertile areas into a toxic, barren wasteland, that Rio Tinto chemically defoliated, bulldozed and sluiced of an entire mountainside of rainforest and that Rio Tinto caused serious illness and death to the people; demands that Rio Tinto accept its responsibility to pay compensation; and urges Her Majesty's Government to institute a full public inquiry and to report back to this House.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

1. 12 December 2000

   Early Day Motion

   That this House is deeply disturbed to learn of the class action complaint filed in the USA courts, in respect of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, accusing London-based Rio Tinto, the mining conglomerate, that in operating its Panguna Copper Mine, the most productive in the world, it treated the indigenous people as inferior and expendable, through apartheid, racial discrimination and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, constituting gross violation of their human rights, that Rio Tinto destroyed Bougainville's forests, fauna and river systems, generating billions of tons of toxic waste, killing animal and plant life, turning vast, fertile areas into a toxic, barren wasteland, that Rio Tinto chemically defoliated, bulldozed and sluiced of an entire mountainside of rainforest and that Rio Tinto caused serious illness and death to the people; demands that Rio Tinto accept its responsibility to pay compensation; and urges Her Majesty's Government to institute a full public inquiry and to report back to this House.

   Source: Early Day Motion

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

No documents linked.

Sponsors

• Mr Michael Clapham · Labour · Primary sponsor

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.