Historic judgment for Waste Pickers in Colombia
April 2009: In a precedent-setting judgment in support of the waste pickers of Cali, Colombia, the Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled as follows:
- that the customary rights of waste pickers to access, sort, and recycle waste should be upheld
- that waste pickers should be recognized as legitimate actors - entrepreneurs -in the multimillion dollar business of waste recycling
- that waste pickers should be integrated into modern waste management systems. To this end, the current waste management tender process was completely suspended and ordered to be fully redrafted so as to ensure that the new bidding process incentivizes the inclusion of waste pickers coops and organizations directly into the business or in association with other corporations by employing waste pickers in non temporary jobs.
- that waste pickers and their families should be covered by the social security system and be guaranteed the rights of social services and social protection offered by the State, including schooling for the children of waste pickers
- that an ad-hoc committee should be created in the Municipality of Cali in order to draft and implement a new policy to ensure that all waste pickers of the city are integrated into the waste recycling business and modern waste management and by that means receive also social services and social protection. The Foundation for Systemic Change, CiViSOL, the Colombian NGO that filed this case on behalf of waste pickers was invited by the Constitutional Court to continue defending the rights of the waste pickers, to join the ad-hoc committee of the municipality of Cali and monitor the inclusion process on behalf of the Court. To that end, CiViSOL shall report periodically to the Court on the performance of the inclusion process and the adherence by the authorities to the Court’s decision.
Please see the following article in the Economist for a summary of the judgment: Waste disposal in Colombia: Muck and Brass Plates (June 11, 2009).
This precedent-setting ruling has implications for waste pickers across Colombia and around the world.
WIEGO hopes to get an English translation of the ruling and related documents and will post it on the website once it becomes available.