Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to ride roughshod over Global South communities

Frontline community defenders from the global majority united in Luxembourg to challenge steelmakers ArcelorMittal and Ternium on Tuesday 6 May. They turned to disrupt the human rights violating companies’ AGMs, and to demand an end to a culture of corporate impunity.

ArcelorMittal and Ternium: steel companies harming communities in the Global South

The delegation is part of the Fair Steel Coalition, a global network of civil society organisations. It includes representatives of frontline communities and families of those forcibly disappeared. The day of action was part of a Europe-wide advocacy tour, as community defenders step up pressure on the steel giants, the banks that finance them, and key EU governments, to demand an end to decades of climate devastation, corporate impunity, and human rights abuse.

Steel companies like ArcelorMittal and Ternium have forced local communities to live with the negative impacts of steel plants and mining. This of course includes increased rates of health issues like respiratory problems and heart complications, as documented in the Fair Steel Coalition’s The Real Cost of Steel report last year.

The report highlighted the environmental racism underlying corporate impunity in steel companies, as the corporations have different standards for the global majority. These frontline communities have been constantly bringing their concerns about the lack of monitoring and need for remedies for health and livelihood issues, but have been met with constant failure to tackle these problems seriously.

One year after the Fair Steel Coalition’s initial attempts to engage with ArcelorMittal and Ternium, both companies have failed to take responsibility. Ternium has refused to even meet with the group. ArcelorMittal has yet to resolve the serious human rights and climate concerns the Coalition brought to the company. Worse yet, in the past year, it has backtracked on its climate commitments.

Solidarity walk of the defenders: ‘No more excuses, no more delays’

On Tuesday 6 May, as Ternium began its AGM, representatives of the families of disappeared activists, environmental defenders, and community leaders from Brazil, Liberia, Mexico, South Africa and Bosnia & Herzegovina gathered in front of the company’s headquarters in Luxembourg:

Outside Ternium’s headquarters, the group held banners and called for an end to years of corporate impunity:

Ana Luisa Queiroz gave a powerful speech criticising Ternium’s practices in Brazil, calling for justice and urgent remedy, declaring:

Profit ends up here in Luxembourg, meanwhile we’re left with literal dust in Brazil.

Campaigners also distributed flyers to Ternium employees and passersby. This exposed Ternium’s role in over 50% of greenhouse gas emissions in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

Complaint with the OECD over disappeared land defenders

Global Rights Advocacy (GRA) and Seattle University International Human Rights Clinic have filed an OECD complaint against Ternium. This cites its failure to meaningfully engage with the families of Antonio Diaz Valencia and Ricardo Lagunes Gasca, two disappeared environmental defenders in Mexico. It also underscores the company’s failure to properly investigate its operations in the country.

Director of GRA Alejandra Gonza said:

It’s time that the company sits down with us, and we need Luxembourg authorities to make it happen.

Following the announcement, the group walked to the Ministry of Economy to reiterate the call of 350 civil society organisations: to demand corporate accountability and stop the culture of impunity and disregard for local communities.

There, community defenders urged Luxembourg ministers to save the CSDDD – an EU directive that would allow communities to hold companies like Ternium and ArcelorMittal accountable in court.

Reaching their final destination outside ArcelorMittal’s headquarters, the group raised their voices against ArcelorMittal’s shameless backtracking over the last year.

Performers demonstrated this ‘backtracking’ outside the company’s HQ, to the backdrop of the activists and their banners:

Lists of community grievances still unanswered by ArcelorMittal

Fair Steel Coalition members then attended the AGM, asked questions, and met with senior executives.

Speaking afterwards, John Brownell from Green Advocates Liberia, said:

I went to the AGM with pages of grievances from families across 3 counties. They answered my question by discussing their investment in jobs and hospitals, but did not address these harmful impacts. My next step is to send the full list of grievances from the lack of community consultation to the impacts on livelihoods. We now expect action and always free prior and informed consent.

Eduardo Mosqueda said:

I asked why ArcelorMittal has not engaged meaningfully with the coalition since we met last May. In response, a senior executive committed to even more formal communication links. True dialogue must happen, and must lead to an action plan that drives real change.

Executive Director of SteelWatch Caroline Ashley added:

Today confirmed that ArcelorMittal is in the back seat, not the driving seat of decarbonisation. AGM day should be the day to seek shareholder support for big strategic decisions. Serious action in line with the climate crisis and the climate footprint of the company needs a new strategy and serious investment. There was absolutely no sign of that today.

Featured image and additional images supplied