Apr 03, 2013

DROI Hearing on Extractive Industries and Indigenous Communities


Experts Urge the European Union to Safeguard Indigenous Rights from Extractive Industries at DROI Hearing

Brussels, 25 April 2013

 

An international team of experts was heard yesterday at a hearing of the Subcommittee on Human Rights on the effect extractive industries have on indigenous populations. On top of UNPO’s General Secretary Marino Busdachin, the committee also heard from Justin O'Brien, the Executive Officer of the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation in Australia, Angolan journalist Rafael Marques, Juana Matilde Mulul Castro, an indigenous representative from Guatemala, and Martin Chungong, the Deputy Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Justin O’Brien began the expert hearing by accounting to land management systems in Australia.  Next Rafael Marques shed some light on the workings of the diamond industry in Angola and Cote d’Ivoire, also asking the European Union to organize a fact finding mission and send in a delegation to visit the regions and indigenous populations in question. Juana Matilde Mulul Castro spoke about her concern for the impact of hydroelectric companies, sugar cane fields and mining activities in Guatemala but also Colombia, Peru and Panama. She stressed that the late Free Trade Agreements with the US, Canada and European Union have exacerbated the willingness of companies to extract natural resources, and that the EU should monitor international corporations’ actions more closely.

UNPO General Secretary Marino Busdachin similarly pointed out that as Free Trade Agreements will become more and more important to the EU economy in the future, attention must be given to the human rights factor. The EU, in whose legislation the spreading of democratic values through trade is embedded, will lose its foreign power leverage if it trades with human rights violators without sanctions. Furthermore Mr. Busdachin reminded the subcommittee that the ratification of ILO 169 should be promoted more, not least within the Union itself, as the convention promises legally bound recognition and consequently rights for indigenous groups.

Lastly the subcommittee heard from Martin Chungong, who explained the mechanisms employed by the IPU to map indigenous political participation. Chair Barbara Lochbilder responded on behalf of the Subcommittee in an assurance that the suggestions of the experts will be taken into consideration. She also agreed with Mr. Busdachin that the ILO 169 needs to be ratified in all of EU, starting with her home country of Germany.

 

For more information:

Mr. Busadchin's speech

Event programme

UNPO press release