Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC)

Putin Petitioned to Kill Plans for Siberian Hydropower Station

whit — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:48:23 +0000

MOSCOW, Russia – A petition against the construction of a giant hydroelectric power station in Siberia that critics say would threaten the indigenous population and an entire larch forest ecosystem was handed to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin this week.

Signed by more than 8,000 people, the petition was organized and presented to Putin by WWF-Russia, Greenpeace-Russia, and the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North as well as other nongovernmental organizations.

The construction project, in the Evenk municipal district, could drive as many as 2,000 Evenki out of

33 Guatemalan Municipalities Give Thumbs Down to Mining

Kailash — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:22:47 +0000

GUATEMALA CITY – The 500,000 residents of 33 municipalities in western Guatemala expressed their opposition on Tuesday to the possible granting of mining licenses in their communities. The position of the area’s overwhelmingly Indian population was conveyed by the Council of the Peoples of the West, which includes communities in the provinces of Quetzaltenango, San Marcos, Totonicapan, Solola, Quiche and Huehuetenango.

In the community referendums conducted, residents said “No” overwhelmingly to mining projects, council members Milton Santos and Mario Lopez said in a press conference.

Investigation Finds that OPIC Denied that Project-Affected Community is Indigenous, Did Not Comply with its Policies

Kailash — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:41:54 +0000

Washington, D.C.-In a report released this week, the Office of Accountability of the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation found that OPIC staff failed to ensure that indigenous peoples were adequately compensated for the impacts of an OPIC-supported silver mine, San Bartolomé, operated by U.S. mining company Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation in the historic town of Potosí, Bolivia. In response, OPIC President, Lawrence Spinelli, denied that OPIC was obligated to follow the social and environmental standards contained in its Environmental Handbook.

The Dam Industry’s Brave New World

johnacuna — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:48:20 +0000

There was a time when we were all expected to follow the law. There was a time when we had to respect clear social and environmental standards if we wanted to build a dam. These days may soon be over if the hydropower industry has its way. A new initiative called the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum puts social and environmental rights and standards at risk.

Over the last 20 years, the World Commission on Dams, the World Bank and various UN bodies issued standards and policies on the development of international infrastructure, mining and forestry projects.

Joint Indigenous Peoples and NGO Statement on the relationship between climate change and human rights

whit — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:04:55 +0000

Joint Indigenous Peoples and NGO Statement on the occasion of the presentation of the Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the relationship between climate change and human rights

Statement to the Human Rights Council, Agenda item 2

Submitted by: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, Tebtebba Foundation, Saami Council and RAIPON

We, the undersigned indigenous peoples’ organizations and support NGOs, welcome the report of the OHCHR on the relationship between climate change and human rights.

Guatemalans Resist Mega-Mines, Hydropower Dams

Kailash — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:08:27 +0000

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (ENS) – Amidst the growing controversy surrounding foreign-controlled resource extraction and mega-development projects in Guatemala, populist leader Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini, together with a group of community leaders, is demanding a two-year moratorium on the granting of mining concessions by the Guatemalan government.

In the municipal capital of San Marcos in northwest Guatemala, Ramazzini, with several hundred of his supporters, took to the streets last Tuesday to call on Congress for a two-year halt to the sale of mineral rights to international companies.

Canadian Mining Firm Financed Violence in Ecuador: Lawsuit

Kailash — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:17:17 +0000

“Financing being raised in Canada is travelling across borders to do harm,” said lawyer Murray Klippenstein by phone from his office in Toronto. “We want to find out if our legal system can respond to this.”

Klippenstein is perhaps best known for his representation of the estate and family of native activist Dudley George, who was shot and killed by police in Ipperwash Provincial Park in Ontario in 1995.

On-going Concerns With Goldcorp's Human Rights "Assessment" in Guatemala

Kailash — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:28:21 +0100

Robert Walker, Vice President Sustainability, The Ethical Funds Company; Nadime Viel Lamare, The First Swedish National Pension Fund; Arne Lööw, The Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund; Peter Chapman, Executive Director, SHARE; Helen Regnell, Research Director, GES Investment Services; John Gordon, National President, Public Service Alliance of Canada

Dear All,

RE: Ongoing Concerns with the Goldcorp Human Rights Impact Assessment

Thank you for your e-mail of March 16, 2009 with attached the revised HRIA objective and On Common Ground’s Statement on Ethical Principles.

We are

Canada goldmine worries grow

Kailash — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:30:10 +0100

The withdrawal of a key player from a Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) of a gold mining operation in Guatemala is causing concern among ethical investors of Goldcorp, one of the largest gold mining companies in the world.

The HRIA, paid for by the Canadian company, was set up last year in response to growing worries among ethical investors that Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine was creating tension among Mayan Indian communities in the western highlands of Guatemala.

Goldcorp is operating in a country that was torn by decades of civil war.

Aboriginals want the option to say "no" to prospecting

Kailash — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:03:55 +0100

Aboriginals want the option to say “no” to prospecting

Although the Ontario Government’s proposed new mining act has been received in a favourable light by many in the industry there is still a great distance between what some stakeholders want and what they will get.

Michael Gravelle, Minister of Northern Development and Mines, introduced a bill to the Ontario legislature on April 30 to provide a clearer set of rules for mining companies, aboriginals, private land owners and the environment.

The 135-year-old act will be revised to recognize aboriginal and treaty rights and include a