[Excerpt translation from Spanish to English provided by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

"New Clause in Peru-China FTA Could Stop Violation of Labour and Environmental Rights in Peru" - March 4, 2020

... Peru and China signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2009 and both countries are currently negotiating its optimization. This has been an opportunity by civil society to include a Title on Trade and Sustainable Development in the treaty, like the one Peru has signed in its trade agreements with the United States, Canada and the European Union... A title through which both parties ensure respect for the right to environmental protection, as well as labour rights, which are sensitive issues in the country's mining activity... Only four Chinese-owned mining companies in Peru represent more than 17 billion dollars in investment in the mining sector: Las Bambas in Apurimac, Chinalco in Junin, Shougang in Ica and Rio Blanco Cooper in Piura. These four Chinese companies have been denounced to the UN in 2018 for serious human rights violations. Julia Cuadros, Director of CooperAcción and specialist in mining and environmental issues in Peru, comments that although these violations occur as a consequence of the weakness of our [Peruvian] institutions, the companies and the States from which they come are also responsible. In these cases, the People's Republic of China should have mechanisms to monitor and control that its companies do not violate rights in the territory where they operate.