Q’eqchi’Maya women suing a Canadian mining company for alleged human rights violations have “changed our law for the better,” one lawyer told The Guardian.
Irma Yolanda Choc Cac and ten other women say that employees of a Hudbay subsidiary committed rape, arson and murder in a campaign against anti-mining activists in Guatemala.
The case has already overcome a serious hurdle — the defendant was unsuccessful in having it thrown out, thus paving the way for an unprecedented claim by foreigners before Canadian jurists.
Lawyers for the accusers say this has opened the door to future lawsuits against an industry beset with numerous claims of human and environmental abuses worldwide.
Hearings are ongoing as the case works its way through Canada’s court system.
Sources: The Guardian, Vice News