Dear All,
Below is the press release of an importand UN meeting on Mining. Punit Minj
the Gen. Sec of JMACC is representing the organisation and Sanjay Basu
Mullick is representing JJBA.
Sincerely
Xavier Dias
Spokesperson
J.M.A.C.C.
B 6 Abhilasha Apts
11 A Purulea Rd.
P.O. Ranchi Jharkhand 834001
INDIA
Tel/fax: (O) +91 651 2532035 / 2531874 / 2532104
Cell +91(India) 9431185072
*PRESS RELEASE*
March 24, 2009
* *
*UN Body wants mining companies to respect rights of Indigenous Peoples and
adhere to international standards of corporate accountability*
MANILA, Philippines -- Some 85 representatives of Indigenous Peoples from
around the world have arrived in the country for the International
Conference on Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries to find effective
ways in combating abuses committed by giant companies engaged in extractive
activities, which they claimed are still grossly violating the human rights
of indigenous peoples and contributing to severe destruction of the
environment.
International experts said that extractions of mineral resources have gone
on unabated worldwide, often sanctioned by their states owing to seemingly
supple regulations or toothless policies against giant mining companies
that destroyed ecological balance and drove indigenous peoples out of their
cultural lands.
“This crisis is created by the elite. They are the people we have not seen
in our lives but whose deeds have impacts on our lives,” said Victoria
Tauli-Corpuz, a Kankana-ey and current Chairperson of the United Nations
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the opening of the one week
international conference held at Legend Villas in Mandaluyong City. She
further said that “States and mining corporations should adhere to the
standards set by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
(UNDRIP).” The UNDRIP is the latest international agreement adopted by the
UN General Assembly and signed by 143 countries in September 13, 2007.
Conference organizer Tebtebba, the Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre
for Policy Research and Education, said that alarming cases of human rights
violations against the indigenous peoples have been filed before courts of
various countries and inter-governmental bodies, such as the UN Committee on
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights.
IP representatives said that their cultural territories are continuously
shrinking due to massive encroachment of mining companies. They expressed
fears that unless governments and international bodies will join hands,
addressing this violation of human rights and destruction of the environment
will not stop.
“Mining companies don’t have the concept and practice of corporate social
responsibility,” said Roger Moody of the Mines and Communities from London,
speaking before the delegates from Asia, Africa, the Pacific, Europe and
Russia, Arctic, Latin and North America.
The Philippines suffered two of the biggest mining disasters -- when the
Tapian Pit of Marcopper Mining Corp. collapsed and spilled 1.6 million
cubic meters of mine tailings in the waterway of Marinduque in 1996, and
when cyanide-laden waste of an Australian owned Lafayette Mining Limited
spilled in the waterway of Rapu-Rapu Island in 2005.
**
_____________________________
**
*PRESS RELEASE
March 23, 2009*
**
*UN Mandates Meeting of World’s Indigenous Peoples and International Experts
to Address Issues of Human Rights Abuses and Corporate Accountability of
Extractive Industries
*
This Expert Group Meeting is being organized following a recommendation of
the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, approved by ECOSOC decision
2008/249, which authorized a three-day international expert group meeting on
the implementation of Article 42 of the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples and requested that...
more information --
Manila, Philippines – Indigenous peoples’ territories in almost all parts of
the world are richly endowed with natural resources, including minerals, oil
and gas. This rich endowment, however, has become a curse to many of them as
corporations involved in extractive industries continue to encroach their
lands and cause the worst forms of environmental degradation and human
rights violations
To date, several complaints and cases related to extractive industries
(mining, oil and gas) have been filed by indigenous peoples from all regions
of the world against corporations who have constantly violated their basic
rights, their rights to their lands, territories and resources in courts of
various countries and at various inter-governmental bodies such as the
United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Despite commitments to various
international agreements protecting human rights several States have been
reported to permit and tolerate the abuses of corporations involved in
mining, oil and gas, including the Philippines. The latest addition to these
international agreements is the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples (UNDRIP), which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in September
13, 2007 and signed by 143 countries.
According to Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, a Kankana-ey from the Cordillera and the
current chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) that
following the growing and alarming reports by indigenous peoples against
extractive industries, a recommendation was adopted during the 7th Session
of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), which authorized a
three-day international expert group workshop on indigenous peoples’ rights,
corporate accountability and the extractive industries and requested that
the results of the meeting be reported to the Permanent Forum at its 8th
Session, on 18-29 May 2009. The UNPFII s an advisory body to the Economic
and Social Council, with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to
economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health
and human rights. Further, the report of the workshop will also feed into
the 18th and 19th Sessions of the Commission on Sustainable Development,
which will address the themes of mining, chemicals, waste management and
sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Two international events are being organized by Tebtebba (Indigenous
Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education), an
international NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and
Social Council of the UN. From March 23-25, 2009, the International
Conference on Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries will take place
at the Legend Villas, Mandaluyong City. Attending this conference are
indigenous peoples and international experts from five continents in Asia
(Philippines, Indonesia, India, Mongolia, Laos, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Iran),
Pacific (Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia), Europe (Russia,
Sweden, Norway, UK), Latin America (Peru, Ecuador, Suriname, Nicaragua,
Bolivia and Argentina), Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Democratic
Republic of Congo, South Africa, Uganda) and North America (USA and Canada)
and will examine the social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts
of extractive industries on indigenous peoples and impacts on biological
diversity and to analyze how the rights of indigenous peoples as contained
in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are respected or
violated. At the end of the conference, they will make recommendations to
States, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Inter-Agency
Support Group for Indigenous Peoples and other multilateral bodies on the
roles they can play in ensuring that the extractive industries adhere to
international standards on human rights of indigenous peoples and standards
of corporate accountability, as well as to establish a plan and mechanism
for coordination and solidarity among indigenous peoples affected by
extractive industries.
This will be followed by the International Expert Workshop on Indigenous
Peoples’ Rights, Corporate Accountability and Extractive Industries from
27-29 March. The Expert Workshop is also organized by Tebtebba together with
the Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).
Representatives of UN bodies and agencies and governments, as well as
international NGOs, will also be participating in these activities. These
include the UN Development Programme (UNDP), International Organization for
Migration (IOM), Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
(EMRIP), International Labour Organization (ILO), World Health Organization
(WHO) and the World Bank (WB). International NGOs and institutions include
the Center for International Environmental Law, Amnesty International and
the World Resources Institute. The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples
and Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) are some of the
government agencies that will also be represented.
