Human rights activists submit a complaint against Luxembourg steel company
« We are not your Sacrifice Zone (we are not your sacrificial zone), » the demonstrators chanted on Tuesday morning in front of the headquarters of the steel company Ternium on the capital boulevard Royal. The allegations against the group, which is mainly active in Central and South America, but has its legal residence in the Grand Duchy, weigh heavily: Ternium is not sufficiently involved in the search for the environmental activists Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca and Antonio Díaz Valencia missing in Mexico.
Shortly before their disappearance two years ago, the two had participated in a meeting in San Miguel de Aquila, which, among other things, dealt with Ternium’s dealings with the community, which has been running an iron ore since two decades. The activists had accused the group of pollution and that it operates the division of the local indigenous population with his policy.
No help in finding the missing person
Since the two of them disappeared, their families unsuccessfully has been trying to receive support from the group in the search for the missing person, says lawyer Alejandra Gonza, who represents the relatives. « The company failed to get in touch with the family members. They ignored numerous inquiries and requests requests to get involved, » Gonza told the « Luxembourg word » on Tuesday.
Therefore, the activists decided to protest before the headquarters during the group’s general meeting, which, according to the 2023 annual report, generated sales of around $ 17.6 billion. « Ternium is a powerful company in Mexico and the region. It has political influence. It has an economic influence. It has its own security and surveillance system. We want to use this to get information to answer a simple question: Where are you? » Says Alejandra Gonza.
The lawyer Alejandra Gonza represents the families of the two missing activists. Photo: Alain Piron
Luxembourg should mediate
For this reason, the activists submitted an official complaint to the National contact point (NCP) of the OECD in Luxembourg on Tuesday. They are supported on site by the « Initiative Pour Un Devoir de Vigilance ».
« With the complaint that Luxembourg helps to create a safe space in which we can contact the company’s highest managers here directly and confidentially, » explains Gonza. « Since the company is based here, Luxembourg could play an important role in finding answers to the families. »
Since this is an extrajudicial complaint procedure, the company cannot be forced to assemble with the families. « We therefore hope that the Luxembourg government will convey in a way that enables this participation, » says the lawyer.
Human rights activists accuse Luxembourg steel giants « environmental racism »
The demonstration was not exclusively about the fate of the two Mexican activists, but also generally in the way in which Western steel companies act in developing countries. Among other things, representatives from Mexico, Brazil and South Africa had also traveled, where Ternium and ArcelorMittal operate steelworks.
The representatives of the « Fair Steel Coalition » see a kind of « environmental racism » at work. Companies that make high investments in Europe and the United States to keep environmental pollution as low as possible, soiled their surroundings uninhibitedly in the countries of the global south and thus destroyed the livelihoods of the local population, is a reproach. A protest rally also took place in front of the Arcelormittal headquarters that day to draw attention to the environmental offense of the steel giant.
