GrunnMUN 2010 The ECOSOC The economic and social repercussions of resource extraction on indigenous peoples.
Foreword We warmly welcome you to the 2010 edition of Groningen Model United Nations as a delegate in the Economic and Social Council. Here, you will debate an issue that is of serious concern to many. You will examine the topic from the point of view of your assigned country and convince, support and impress upon others in order to create a fruitful debate that may lead to a satisfying resolution on the topic. We look forward to seeing you explore this issue in order to achieve as much as possible. This year, the topic chosen revolves around the economic and social effects that resource extraction has on indigenous peoples. The western world is trying to expand its industry in the most profitable way possible and, unsurprisingly, this has its downsides. Where one party gains, another usually loses. The latest concerns are related to the fact that Multi-National Companies are moving part of their production process, mainly the extraction of resources, to less developed countries. Louder and frequent voices are heard trying to convince the world that these exploitative companies do not take the lives and habits of the indigenous population into account. As Chairs of this council, we would appreciate you putting effort into coming up with a thorough inquiry of the different points of view on the situation. After this, solutions to the problems encountered will be compiled in a resolution that reflects the decisions properly. You will experience a clash of interest, since we are talking about a sensitive topic for both the western and the developing world. The two different group opinions can differ enormously. Still, change is necessary since the alarm bells have been ringing for quite some time now and little has happened ever since. We kindly ask you to go beyond the usual solutions and the actions already taken, because the agreements signed so far are often unclear and leave much room for interpretation. Furthermore, they did not seem to have change the situation too much. This background paper will give you information on the topic, it will also give you some case studies, but we encourage you to take a good look at the topic at hand and do research yourself as well. Good luck! Else Rowel and Laura-Jean van de Ven ECOSOC Chairs, GrunnMUN 2010
Introduction For around three decades now, the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, have been financing projects in the extraction sector all around the globe. The common backup for this support
is
coming
from
the
idea
that
the
collaborations
between
different
governments, the IFIs and Multinational corporations (MNCs) would ensure social and economic development in the state where the resources are extracted. By virtue of their actions, they are supposedly eradicating poverty, promoting sustainable forms of economic development, protecting the environment and advancing the rights of indigenous peoples.1 To promote these goals, the international community has set up discussion forums where indigenous peoples can, in some cases, voice their opinions on the projects organised in their respective areas. In this way they can veto, sanction or influence the decisions of the MNCs that are operating in the resource extraction industry. Besides these forums there are many international charters, state constitutions and national laws that ensure the rights of indigenous people.2 However, during the past few years, the concerns about achieving the aforementioned social and economic goals by resource extraction in developing countries have been growing. The strongest opposition has emanated from the IFIs and the United Nations; they claim that the native inhabitants are increasingly subjected to discrimination, exploitation, expropriation and even racism. The main problem is that the indigenous people are often dependent on the industries, since they provide work, which makes it harder for these people to fight against the massive companies that are owned by foreign investors, even when the MNCs discriminate or exploit. These problems are seen in many developing countries or areas all over the world, from the Philippines to Nigeria to Peru. The industries themselves differ from gas production to petroleum extraction and gold mining. The complexity and scale of this issue is also existent because of the large amount of (international) actors involved. While analyzing this problem, we must take into account the needs, opinions and customs of indigenous peoples, national government, MNCs, IFIs and international organizations.
1 2
Sawyer, S. and Gomez, E.T., Transnational Governmentality and Resource Extraction. Ibid.
Developments over Time About 35 years ago the world realized how much it could benefit from resource extraction. People were looking for more and more places where the „treasure‟ was hidden and it became clear that we would demand more of these resources year after year,
given
the
ever-growing
world
population
and
increasing
technological
developments.3 The world discovered more and more locations where the extraction of resources was possible and the industry expanded quickly. During the initial years, results were very positive and seemed as if the whole world would be able to benefit from this emerging and growing industry. It turned out that this was not going to alleviate problems in some parts of the world within a short period of time, but there was certainly hope for improvement. Only during recent years has this issue has received more attention, partly because the international community realised that it was not on track in trying to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The first goal is to “Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty”; the percentage of people living on less than a Dollar a day should halve by 2015, relative to the same percentage of 1990. So far, progress on this goal is behind schedule and the economic crisis has only worsened the situation.4 The focus on resource extraction has grown since the observation of a strange phenomenon: if we take a closer look at the low-income countries that have expanded their oil exports in recent decades, mainly Sub-Saharan African countries, we see that in most cases that the countries were unable to fight poverty at all.5 How is it possible that something so valuable could be so resourceful for its benefactors, whilst being so detrimental for its owners? The negative effects for the low-income countries have now been discussed by many experts and have resulted in negative economic growth, weak governance, increasing poverty and insecurity.6 There has been a long-standing history of international institutions trying to protect the culture and physical wellbeing of indigenous peoples. These indigenous peoples are increasingly vulnerable and more likely to be overlooked and discriminated by governments in national development plans.7
3 4 5 6 7
Le Billon, P. The Political Ecology of War United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report. Myers, K., Petroleum, Poverty and Security Shaxson, N., Oil- the resource curse. Sawyer, S. and Gomez, E.T., Transnational Governmentality and Resource Extraction
In 1957, the first efforts to protect indigenous peoples were undertaken by the International Labor Organization (ILO) by first adopting the ILO Convention 107 concerning the protection of indigenous, tribal and semi-tribal population, followed by the ILO Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. Unfortunately, this is the only binding instrument that refers to the need to protect of the rights of indigenous peoples and furthermore, only 18 out of the 192 member states of the United Nations have so far ratified it.8,9 Of equal importance is the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the UN Human Rights Council in 2006 and both the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples‟ Rights have adopted a similar document.10 Indigenous peoples can use the aforementioned documents to claim their traditional lands and to try to achieve some level of autonomy in certain areas. The declarations urge governments to respect the rights of indigenous peoples and to actively protect their interests in political, social and economic issues. In order to concretise concerns that may have arisen from these declarations, the United Nations established an advisory body that reports to the ECOSOC known as the “Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues”. Case studies: The following case studies have been chosen in order to provide a more detailed description of the current situation: Peru, Chad and Cameroon. Peru In the south east of Peru, after years of preparations, a project known as „Camisea‟ began in 2004 owing to the discovery of gar reserves in 1986 in the Amazonian jungle.
11
It
is one of the most bio-diverse areas on the planet, which therefore makes it extremely fragile. 8
Ibid. United Nations, Growth in United Nations Membership 1945-present 10 For further reading on international agreements we refer to: Sawyer, S. and Gomez, E.T., Transnational Governmentality and Resource Extraction, appendix 1 11 Net Resources International, Camisea Gas Project, Peru 9
The project is currently progressing well and exports towards mostly Mexico, Brazil and the United States are growing incrementally. However, the Machiguenga populations, until the 1990s a semi-nomadic group, had to change their way of living drastically as a result of this activity. They are legally capable of protecting their ancestral territory, but could not stop the radical transformation of their „indigenous cultural, social political and economic reality‟.
12
The MNCs operating in Peru
negotiated some terms with the indigenous groups, but the Machiguenga could easily have been manipulated since their political knowledge and organisation was inadequate. Different negotiations with different peoples led to a confusing situation and tensions even within various groups of indigenous peoples. Experts now note that „these spatial, cultural and ideological transformations have largely aided the Camisea project and further augmented poverty, inequity and the exploitations of indigenous people‟.13 The Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project The primary goal of the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project is to construct a pipeline from the oil fields in Chad to the coast of Cameroon. This project has been set up with the help of various actors: the governments of Chad and Cameroon, the World Bank and certain oil companies (Exxon/Mobil, Petronas Malaysia and Chevron).14 Chad‟s oil resources offer a special opportunity to help improve the lives its citizens. This, however, will only become reality when the oil revenues will be used to invest in the future of the country – for example by investing in education and health. Many critics fear that little of this income will indeed reach the ordinary population of Chad, and that much of the income will disappear due to incompetence and corruption. Furthermore, a common fear is that the government will use these revenues instead to buy weapons in order to strengthen themselves against rebel movements in the country. These critiques are not solely based on prejudice; the government of Chad did procure weapons in November 2000 using petrodollars.15 Meanwhile, the question remains about the effect of this project is on the people of 12 13 14 15
Sawyer, S. and Gomez, E.T., Transnational Governmentality and Resource Extraction Sawyer, S. and Gomez, E.T., Transnational Governmentality and Resource Extraction Colombia University, Chad Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project Colombia University, Chad Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project
Chad. The project has set up a program that tries to prevent HIV/AIDS in Chad and Cameroon. For example, free condoms are distributed to its employees and all project workers in an effort to promote awareness about HIV/AIDS prevention.
16
Conclusion: Resource extraction can be a helpful tool for developing countries to flourish and it can offer prosperity to its people. Too often, however, the ordinary citizens of the resource-endowed countries do not benefit from extraction. The governments have proven to be unsuccessful and incompetent in dealing with the various issues that have arisen with the extraction of resources. On the other hand, the arrival of MNCs in developing countries can yield opportunities to the indigenous and other peoples; the creation of jobs is an important positive effect of resource extraction in developing countries.
16
Essochad, Chad/Cameroon Development Project
The rights of indigenous peoples are of a distinct character; therefore international charters have been set up. These charters, national laws and state constitutions try to protect the rights of indigenous peoples. For example, acquiring title deeds and recognition of their territories can be extremely empowering to indigenous peoples. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires that any state or corporate project on indigenous lands must acquire prior consent from its residents. However, a contradiction can be seen: while the international and national communities have taken special steps to assert the rights of indigenous peoples, the majority of the indigenous peoples are simultaneously being discriminated, exploited and their rights are not respected nor protected. A major obstacle for the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples is the legal definition of „indigenous peoplesâ€&#x;; unfortunately, there is no predetermined convention on a universal legal definition.17 In short, various problems, difficulties and challenges lie ahead of us. Efforts have been made to address the tribulations of indigenous peoples that go hand in hand with resource extraction. Already stipulated, the international community has set up various discussion forums where indigenous peoples can express their opinions and try to engage in a dialogue with the MNCs. Although these initiatives have been set up and despite their benevolent aims of striving for parity, much work has yet to be done.
17
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, The Concept Of Indigenous Peoples
Questions to address: 1. What is the scale of this problem? 2. Why have the measures taken to protect the rights of indigenous peoples not had the effect that was expected? 3. What can be done to improve the living situation of indigenous peoples affected by resource extraction? 4. How can resource extraction have a positive influence on the lives of indigenous peoples? 5. What roles can the governments of the countries in question play? Should regional organizations, such as the AU, be more involved in these situations? 6. IFIs play a major role in resource extraction process; without loans by the IFIs many projects could not be funded. Should the IFIs take any modicum of responsibility for the problems that arise due to (and as externalities of) their actions? 7. There are many charters and laws that protect the rights of indigenous peoples (and their land). How is it possible that many of these rights are not respected and what would be an effective solution to the problem?
Sources: Le Billon, P., The political ecology of war: natural resources and armed conflicts. Political Geography, Volume 20, Issue 5, June 2001, Retrieved 31 January 2010 at: <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VG2-43B8B1M2&_user=3021449&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F2001&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=sear ch&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1199051846&_rerunOrigin=scholar .google&_acct=C000021878&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=3021449&md5=0b 33c1020c2afb416553c3a92de6704b#toc1> Colombia University, Chad Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project. Retrieved 1 February 2010 at < http://www.columbia.edu/itc/sipa/martin/chad-cam/index.html >
Essochad, Chad/Cameroon Development Project. Retrieved 1 February 2010 at < http://www.essochad.com/Chad-English/PA/Operations/TD_Project.asp >
Myers, K. Petroleum, Poverty and Security, Chatham house, June 2005, Retrieved 1 February 2010 at: < http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/research/africa/current_projects/extractive_resourc es/> Net Resources International, Camisea Gas Project, Peru, 2010, retrieved 1 February 2010 at: < http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/camisea/> Shaxson, N., Oil â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the resource curse, International Affairs, 81 (2), 2005 Sawyer, S. and Gomez, E.T., Transnational Governmentality and Resource Extraction, -Indigenous Peoples, Multinational Corporations, Multilateral Institutions and the State.- Identities, Conflict and Cohesion Programme Paper Number 13, September 2008, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. Retrieved 26 January 2010 at: <http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpPublications)/DD4690C7DCC1A303 C1257512003066D6?OpenDocument> United Nations, Growth in United Nations Membership 1945-present. Retrieved 1 February 2010 at < http://www.un.org/en/members/growth.shtml> United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report, New York, 2009, Retrieved 31 January 2010 at: <http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2009/MDG_Rep ort_2009_En.pdf > United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Background paper workshop on data collection and disaggregation for indigenous peoples, The Concept of Indigenous Peoples. Retrieved at 1 February 2010 at < www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/workshop_data_background >