The dark side of the mining 'boom' in Colombia

“This book seeks to offer a general approaching to breaches to human rights and the adverse effects on the environment resulting from the open economic policies implemented by the last Colombian Government’s between 2002 and 2014 for the extraction of gold and coal in the departments of Antioquia, Cesar, La Guajira and Tolima. This text contains an overview of the mining policies adopted during the mentioned period, and their transformation throughout the years. It then goes on to the two most problematic situations documented so far, namely, the breach of human rights in the form of forced displacement and violence against civilians in areas of abundant mineral reserves and the violation of environmental rights due to contamination of land, water and air resources. The author pursues to analyse within the context of a descriptive methodology, how these “unwelcome” social and environmental side effects of the mining industry in Colombia can be considered breaches of diverse human and environmental rights in the most relevant mining zones in the country”.