"Choc v. HudBay Minerals Inc. & Caal v. HudBay Minerals Inc," Jan 2020

On January 21, 2020, Hudbay Minerals lost its attempt to block the Mayan Q’eqchi’ Plaintiffs from amending their lawsuit to add new details about the assaults and rapes suffered by them in Guatemala, allegedly perpetrated by mine company private security forces, military and police.

In a judgment that found for the Plaintiffs on all points, the Superior Court of Justice confirmed that the Plaintiffs can and are suing Hudbay not only for the rapes committed by the mining company’s security personnel, but also for the rapes committed at the same time by Guatemalan police and military. Read the judgment – Decision re motion to amend pleadings.

Key excerpts from the judgment include:

“Inherent in these allegations is that Skye [the then mine owner, subsequently amalgamated with Hudbay] attempted to influence government officials who were responsible for the police and military in order to have them carry out the very evictions during which the alleged sexual assaults occurred in a country with a corrupt justice system where violence and sexual assault was prevalent.” [para. 37]...

“I am not persuaded that the Plaintiffs would be unable to establish that it was reasonably foreseeable to a party in Skye’s position that by requesting, influencing, funding, participating in and supporting the evictions in a country with a corrupt justice system and a history of sexual assaults during military operations and taking no steps to prevent the violence, the alleged sexual assaults would occur.” [para 60]