VESTED INTERESTS PUSHING AMAZONIAN HIGHWAY BILL

Plans to build a 270 km highway through the Peruvian Amazon are mired in legal violations and potential conflicts of interest, said Global Witness in a new report today.

The Purús highway bill, currently being considered by Peru’s Congress, proposes a new road between Puerto Esperanza (Ucayali) and Iñapari (Madre de Dios) in the Amazon rainforest. This pristine wilderness harbors the richest stands of mahogany left in Peru,  and is home to some of the few remaining indigenous groups living in ‘voluntary isolation’.

If approved, the new highway would have devastating impacts on the environment and indigenous communities in the area, violating laws on protected areas, the consultation rights of indigenous peoples and protections for ‘uncontacted’ indigenous groups. The Transport Committee, which is charged with making recommendations to Congress, however, has failed to highlight any of these concerns in its official deliberations.

“It is crucial that investment comes to the isolated Purús region to improve services for the population, but there are important questions to be answered over who this project would actually benefit. The huge social and environmental costs that would result from this new highway have not been properly assessed and Congress should vote it down,” said Billy Kyte, campaigner at Global Witness.

Global Witness’ investigation suggests that access to valuable commodities such as timber and gold, which the highway would provide, may be one of the driving factors behind the bill’s support:

Local officials previously drew up an illegal contract with logging company Agro Industrial SAC granting logging rights along the road in return for its construction. Priest Miguel Piovesan, a key promoter of the highway locally, led the negotiations over the deal that was never signed in full.

Congressman Carlos Tubino, the bill’s main sponsor, was Political Military Head of Ucayali at a time when illegal timber from Purús was openly transported using military planes.

Congressman Francisco Ccama, another key supporter, has extensive gold mining interests and potentially stands to benefit through the opening up of new gold reserves.

“There are so many concerns with this proposal, it’s worrying that things have even got this far. Some of the most vocal supporters of this project have links to timber and gold interests, two commodities sure to be extracted from the area via any new highway. Such voices are dominating the debate while calls from Peru’s National Ministries and indigenous organisations to reject the bill are being ignored.” said Kyte.

The report also documents bribery and other crimes at the local level associated with the highway plans: 

Forest is being illegally cleared along the route of the proposed highway, using funds provided by the local municipality in Purús.

The Purús municipality has been accused of fraudulently obtaining the signatures of indigenous peoples to falsely claim indigenous peoples’ support for the highway.

One indigenous leader was offered a bribe of 30,000 Soles (around US$10,000) to gain the support of indigenous groups for the road project.

Global Witness is calling for the bill to be suspended, pending a full investigation into evidence of legal violations, and potential conflicts of interest.

“Peru’s Congress should suspend the bill. A parliamentary investigative committee needs to urgently look into these allegations whilst the bill’s implications are properly examined”, said Kyte.

New Audit Reveals Liberia Systematically Breaking Its Own Laws in Multi-National Deals Worth Billions

Global Witness welcomes a new audit recommending that the Liberian government take immediate action to address systematic gaps in compliance with laws on how its natural resources are allocated. The report, commissioned by LEITI, Liberia’s groundbreaking transparency initiative, revealed that laws had been broken in virtually every natural resource deal since 2009.

The findings, leaked to the press earlier this week, paint a picture of a country routinely ignoring its own laws in a rush to hand out natural resources to all comers. The audit also underlines the importance of independent oversight of how natural resources deals are made. Global Witness urges the Liberian government to quickly finalize and publish the report and take strong action to fully address its recommendations.

“If the Liberian government is serious about turning the page on the past and using natural resources to improve the lives of its citizens rather than enrich the corrupt, enforcing laws and prosecuting government officials and companies who violate them should be its number one priority; this could make or break the country's future.” said Jon Gant of Global Witness. “The sad truth is that the Liberian government has consistently failed to do this.”

The draft LEITI findings indicate that non-compliance with laws governing how natural resources are allocated is widespread and a problem across all natural resources sectors, including oil, mining, large agricultural concessions and forestry.

Global Witness and Liberian civil society have documented systemic legal violations in the timber sector since the lifting of UNSC timber sanctions in 2006, which was a particular focus of international reform efforts since the end of the country’s timber and diamond fuelled war in 2003.  The promised jobs and tax revenues from the sector have failed to materialize, while nearly half the countries forests have been allocated through illegal and fraudulent deals since 2010. Despite swift and strong commitments from the President to clean up the sector, the government has been slow to act.

Across sectors, the government has so far failed to hold corrupt or negligent officials, politicians and companies accountable, thus undermining its own laws governing natural resource use. The LEITI report reveals the full scope of the problem.

At a meeting of the LEITI Board last week, Global Witness and other stakeholders received an embargoed version of the draft findings of the LEITI audit, which has since been leaked to the press. The findings will be reviewed by the government and LEITI’s multi-stakeholder oversight body before official publication.

The mandate of the LEITI to publish contracts and review how they are allocated goes beyond that of its international parent initiative, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative or EITI, which requires publication of government revenues from extractive industries. The new findings demonstrate the importance of independent oversight of the process by which natural resource contracts are allocated.

GOVERNMENT AND UN LAUNCH $36.7 MILLION JOINT HUMANITARIAN APPEAL FOR LIBERIA    

Monrovia, 19 February 2013 - The Government of Liberia and the United Nations appealed for nearly US$ 37 million today to meet the pressing humanitarian needs of Liberia’s most vulnerable communities during 2013. The UN “Critical Humanitarian Gaps (CHG) 2013 humanitarian response plan” aims to provide vital humanitarian assistance to over half a million people at risk, including nearly 117,000 children.

Liberia continues to face significant humanitarian challenges. Nearly half of Liberia’s population lives in extreme poverty surviving on less than US$ 1 per day.  More than 64,000 Ivorian refugees remain in Liberia since post-election violence in Côte d’Ivoire forced them to flee and 25,000 former Liberian refugees who returned home last year continue to need essential humanitarian assistance.

The UN Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for Liberia and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr Aeneas C. Chuma, said: “We call on donors to support the humanitarian appeal we are launching today. We need nearly US$ 37 million to provide vital water, nutrition, food security and healthcare services to families at risk. Without much needed donor assistance Liberia’s most vulnerable communities will suffer. If donors act now we will be able to reach those communities who need our help the most.”

The UN CHG 2013 plan focuses primarily on the four-refugee hosting counties in Southeastern Liberia; Nimba, Grand Gedeh, Maryland, and River Gee. Bomi, Grand Kru and Montserado counties will also be a focus for UN assistance under the plan launched today given their poor emergency indicators for food security, water, sanitation and hygiene services.

The CHG 2013 is a humanitarian transition planning tool which aims to consolidate and sustain humanitarian investments made during the emergency phase of the humanitarian crisis brought about by the massive influx of Ivorian refugees in 2010/2011. It aims to address pressing needs of Ivorian refugees and their Liberian hosts in communities in the four-border counties with Côte d’Ivoire, those vulnerable in communities with poor emergency indicators, as well as help repatriate and reintegrate back into Liberian society. As an appeal instrument, the CHG aims to coordinate efforts of participating agencies to appeal for funds cohesively, not competitively.

The 2013 Liberia CHG was prompted by persistent vulnerabilities affecting Liberians and Ivorian refugees in communities as a result of a 62% funding shortfall in the Liberia 2012 Consolidated Appeal (CAP). Acknowledging the development setting under which this particular humanitarian programming is taking place, the CHG participating agencies decided to use Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) standard emergency indicators to prioritize needs and intervention zones.