COLLECTIVE PRESS RELEASE
Lima, 27 July 2017.- Civil society organizations from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru and the Dominican Republic are developing recommendations on transparency, access to information, environmental impact assessment and free, prior and informed consent in, among others, the sectors of extractive industry and infrastructure. These contributions aim to provide inputs and systematized information to the work of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (ESCER) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and to contribute to the consolidation of the full implementation of these rights in Latin America and the Caribbean, such as access to information and consultation.
Similarly, civil society organizations are working on the development of specific standards o27n access to information, transparency, and participation in the extractive sector and in the management of natural resources in general, that will be presented to the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. The above civil society objectives were outlined in a letter to the members of the IACHR delivered during the meeting that IACHR held with national and international civil society organizations, within the framework of the 163th special session of the IACHR taking place on 5 July in Lima, Peru.
Criminalization of environmental defenders, socio-environmental conflicts and corruption are the common denominators in the region. For this reason, the existence of Special Rapporteurs for ESCER and for Freedom of Expression are expected to open a platform for dialogue between IACHR, civil society, indigenous peoples and other members of the public affected by the pattern of violations caused by the intensive natural resource extraction without the appropriate safeguards. Additionally, the signatories of the open letter urge the IACHR to visit the countries of the areas affected by extractive activities and to follow up such visits with recommendations to the Member States.
Photos: IACHR
The letter follows below:
Lima, 5 July 2017
Respected members of the IACHR
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
Subject: Transparency and the right of access to information
in the field of extractive industries.
Dear Sirs and Mesdames,
We, as undersigned organizations, are writing to you in the context of our participation at the 163th special session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) held from 3 to 7 July in Lima, Peru, in order to express the following:
The Latin American and Caribbean Governments prioritized a development model based on the promotion of investments with the emphasis on extractive and infrastructure projects, under the promise of more jobs and income. Their main argument is that investments, and by extension economic growth, are discouraged by regulatory disorder, numerous administrative procedures and rights, including: free, prior and informed consent, citizen participation, access to information and transparency, as well as the environmental control in the sectors of extractive industries and infrastructure.
For this reason, our Governments have in the past years adopted a strategy of deregulation and flexibility of social and environmental standards, in order to accelerate the mega-project cycle, thereby facilitating investment as a driver for development. In this context, we would like to present at least three elements that highlight that this strategy is faulty and that, on the contrary, environmental deregulation coupled with the lack of effective mechanisms for transparency and access to information have disastrous consequences for guaranteeing other fundamental rights. Environmental liabilities that are plentiful in the region, the criminalization of protest by defenders of nature and by local population and corruption cases associated with large extractive and infrastructure projects are just a few of the side effects of development policies that prevail in the region.
In March of this year, a Public Hearing was held called the «Right of Access to Information and Transparency in the Environmental Management, Granting, Monitoring and Control of Extractive Activities in Latin America and the Caribbean» within the 161th regular session of the IACHR. In this hearing, violations of the right of access to information in the extractive sectors in the Dominican Republic Guatemala and Nicaragua were presented. The aim of this hearing was to demonstrate the instrumental role of access to information and transparency for the guarantee of other fundamental rights, such as the right to participation, access to justice, the right to free, prior and informed consent, the right to a healthy environment, the right to health and the right to life.
Additionally, we would like to reiterate our concern for the increasing violations of the rights of environmental defenders. According to data from Global Witness, in 2015 alone 122 environmental leaders and defenders of the territory were killed in Latin America out of a total of 185 killed globally (40% of this total belonged to indigenous communities).
For all of the above reasons, we would like to inform you that we are currently in the process of developing recommendations on transparency and access to information, environmental impact assessment and free, prior and informed consent in, among others, the extractive and infrastructure industries. These recommendations aim to provide inputs and systematized information that can serve the work of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social and Cultural and Environmental Rights (ESCER) and work together for the consolidation of an important reference point for the full implementation of such rights in Latin America and the Caribbean.
We hope for these contributions to be included in the Work Plan and for them to be developed by the ESCER Rapporteur for the evaluation of the human rights impacts of megaprojects. To this end, we hope to open a space for dialogue between the IACHR, civil society, indigenous peoples and other members of the public affected by the pattern of violations resulting from the intensive extraction of natural resources without the appropriate safeguards. We are at your disposal to coordinate with the ESCER Special Rapporteur, Dr. Soledad García Muñoz, on these issues and on her Work Plan.
On the other hand, we would like to bring to your attention that we are currently also promoting specific measures to improve transparency and access to information as a fundamental prerequisite for the implementation of other fundamental rights. In this regard, please find attached the report of the public hearing «Right of Access to Information and Transparency in the Environmental Management, Granting, Monitoring and Control of Extractive Activities in Latin America and the Caribbean» that collects the main statements of the hearing.
Finally, we hope to be able to assist the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression in developing specific standards on access to information, transparency and participation in the extractive sector and more generally, in the management of natural resources. Accordingly, we welcome the interest shown by the Special Rapporteur, Dr. Edison Lanza, in the above-mentioned thematic hearing conducted during the 161th regular session of the IACHR.
We are convinced that the monitoring of the conditions of the individuals and communities affected by the moving forward of mega-projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the development of more specific indicators and standards by the thematic Rapporteurs of the Honorable IACHR will provide a valuable contribution to the application of fundamental rights in the region such as participation, access to information and transparency.
Sincerely,
Ancestral Indigenous Authorities Q’eqchi ‘es (Guatemala)
Humboldt Centre (Nicaragua)
National Center for Information and Research of Development and Disasters (Guatemala)
Law, Environment and Natural Resources (DAR for its acronym in Spanish, Peru)
Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF)
Dominican Observatory of Public Policies of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD-ODPP for its acronym in Spanish, Dominican Republic)
Collected from DAR.