ethical court against border mining
By Daniela Estrada *
Gold Condor / Credit: Government of Peru
Condor Gold
Credit: Government of Peru
SANTIAGO, (IPS) - They want to draw attention to mining developments in neighboring areas or bilateral implications. American activists are meeting in the Chilean capital to "judge" considered negative projects for local communities, environment and national security.
(http://www.ipsnoticias.net/nota.asp?idnews=96380)
"One of the characteristics of mining activity is now expanding into areas not traditionally played, which prevented the entry for geopolitical reasons or national security, as the borders of the countries, "Lucio Cuenca told IPS, the non-governmental Latin American Observatory for Environmental Conflicts (OLCA) of Chile.
OLCA is one of the organizers of the first court against mining ethical boundary, to be held on 30 this month in Santiago. In that instance will be discussed projects in Argentina and Chile, Ecuador and Peru, Bolivia and Brazil, El Salvador and Guatemala, Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica and Nicaragua (Crucitas mine).
The paradigmatic example is constituted by Argentina and Chile, which in 1997 signed the Mining Integration and Complementation. So far five projects have been part of a binational commission the necessary protocol to operate in the border mountain range Los Andes, rich in glaciers.
highlighted the issue Pascua Lama mine of Barrick Gold Corporation, in the northern Chilean region of Atacama and the northwestern province of Argentina, San Juan, in addition to El Pachon, Arrows, Vicuña and Amos, Andrew, all capital foreign.
is still pending the project Cerro Cuadrado, Patagonia, from Canada's Development Prospects Mineros SA.
All are opposed by local communities and environmentalists.
According to Cuenca, the environmental, social and political of this mining, mainly in the hands of transnational companies, are a "New reality" that must be visible, and that is not being served by the "institutionalization of human rights protection, or bilateral or international." Activists criticize
also strong support from governments to businesses. OLCA, for example, found complementarity between the Chilean-Argentine mining agreement and some projects IIRSA (Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America).
ethical
The court, consisting of a panel of judges and Latin American personalities, at different levels prosecute States, mining companies and countries where they originated.
CORDILLERA DEL CONDOR
In northern Peru, on the border with Ecuador, concessions have almost tripled in comparison maps February 2005 and June 2010, with two cases symbolic: the mining of Aphrodite, with Canadian capital, and Río Blanco, China's Zijin Company.
Aphrodite has a gold concession in the Cordillera del Condor in the Amazon region, home to native people Awajún, and known by the conflict that pitted Peru and Ecuador in 1995. Rio Blanco copper explode in a rural area of \u200b\u200bPiura region.
Both projects are in exploration and are shunned by most communities native and rural for fear of contaminating rivers and forests. A similar scenario is observed in the southern Puno and Tacna, bordering Bolivia and Chile, respectively.
José de Echave, non-governmental CooperAcción of Peru, told IPS that "the government has no policy that considers security risks and damage to the environment before giving concessions in border areas. Everything seems to be leaving improvisation. "
Peru's constitution prohibits the granting concessions to foreign capital in the range of 50 kilometers from the border unless they are approved by a Presidential Decree declaring the enterprise of national interest. Between 2002 and 2009 were issued 23 of these decrees.
Magdiel Carrión, Piura peasant leader and president of the National Confederation of Communities Affected by Mining Peru, oppose the draft because it believes that Zijin affect the moors and the White River, which gives rise to two other water courses on the border with Ecuador. According
Carrion projects generate division and violence among those in favor and against. "I hope in the Ethics Tribunal of Chile to bring out what these businesses and see a way of punishing" he asked.
THE PANTANAL
In Bolivia, there is concern of Mutún steel project, in the eastern department of Santa Cruz, which borders Brazil, by the Indian company Jindal Steel.
Patricia Molina, the Bolivian Forum on Environment and Development, said the boost Mutún steel pole in the region of Corumbá, in the southwestern Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, and leave in the background Bolivian interest in having raw materials and finished products derived from iron.
The environmental impact will be felt immediately in the Bolivian region of the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland climate with regulatory function also extends to Paraguay and Brazil, because the steel industry requires large volumes of water for the process of iron in its initial phase, Molina told IPS.
Four years after the signing of the contract between Jindal Steel and the government there has been progress in the project, but some indigenous communities already suffer from a ban on using natural lakes as water sources said. NORTHERN
American Commission on Human Rights, based in Washington, filed May 20 in Guatemala to suspend the operation of gold and silver from the Marlin mine, located in the western department of San Marcos, bordering Mexico , by hosting an injunction in favor of 18 indigenous communities.
However, Explotadora Montana, a subsidiary of Goldcorp, accused of polluting several rivers, continues to operate the mine due to administrative delays in processing suspension.
Entre Mares Meanwhile, another subsidiary of the Canadian corporation, is responsible for the Cerro Blanco project in the southeastern department of Jutiapa bordering El Salvador, the social groups who oppose Salvadorans and Guatemalans.
"There is a risk of a binational political conflict because El Salvador would have legal grounds for claiming that they violate human rights of its citizens" due to possible contamination of shared river and lake Güija Lempa, which supply water to the population of El Salvador, told IPS Rafael Maldonado, non-governmental Centre for Legal Action, Environmental and Social de Guatemala. Natalia
Atz, non-governmental Association Ceiba de Guatemala, told IPS that the implementation of an ethics against mining is a great opportunity to show the damage that this industry is causing to communities in Latin America.
Mexico's Ana Maria Alvarado, a directive of non-governmental Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America, told IPS that court which shall, in the case of Blackfire Exploration Canadian company that extracts barite in the southern state of Chiapas, bordering Guatemala.
was assassinated in November Abarca, leader of the Mexican Network of Concerned and Affected by Mining, known opponent of Blackfire. Since the mine closed in December.
A mission of Canadian non-governmental organizations who visited Chiapas this year found environmental damage, corruption and human rights violations by the mining. Contributions
* Milagros Salazar (Lima), Franz Chávez (La Paz), Danilo Valladares (Guatemala), Emilio Godoy (Mexico). (FIN/2010)
0 comments:
Post a Comment