In February 2019, a group of civil society organizations called for the “exclusion of the Brazilian mining company Vale from the United Nations Global Compact, the largest network for corporate social responsibility in the world.” By signing the compact, over 13,000 businesses have committed to adopting corporate practices guided by human and environmental rights principles. However, the civil society organizations allege that Vale has consistently ignored warnings from experts and civil society about the negative impacts of its work.

In particular, the organizations outline two Vale projects that have resulted in fatal dam collapses in the past four years. In the most recent incident, a dam collapse on January 25, 2019, flooded parts of a nearby town with toxic waste from an iron mine, resulting in 165 deaths, with 160 people still missing and 135 without shelter. Aside from the cost to human life, the organizations warn that toxic waste has the capacity to reach the São Francisco basin, which “serves the poorest region of Brazil, the northeast, and is a vital source of water supply for millions of people.” Read the full account here.