Recommendation on the Exploitation of Natural Resources and Human Rights Violations
We the participants of the forum on the Participation of NGOs at the 39th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights,
Recognizing that the provisions of the Constitutive Act of the African Union require the promotion and protection of human rights and obligates member states to promote the socio economic development of Africa and raise the standard of living of African people;
Further recognizing that the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in its preamble affirm the right to development and that civil and political rights cannot be disassociated from economic, social and cultural rights in their conception as well as universality and the satisfaction of economic, social and cultural rights is a guarantee for the enjoyment of civil and political rights;
Recalling the pledge by AU member states under Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa, to coordinate and intensify their cooperation to achieve a better life for the people of Africa;
Further recalling that the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights guarantees the protection and promotion of individual and collective rights;
Further recalling that international and regional standards including the African Charter on Humana and Peoples’ Rights expressly states in Article 21 that all peoples shall freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources, which shall be exercised in the exclusive interest of the people, and in no case shall the people, be deprived of it and in case of spoliation, the dispossessed people shall have a right to lawful recovery of its properties as well as to an adequate compensation;
Also recalling that the African Charter states in Article 24 that all people shall have the right to a general satisfactory environment favourable to their development;
Welcoming the decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Communication 155/06, The Social and Economic Rights Action Centre and the Centre for Economic and Social Rights v. Nigeria, which declared that destruction of peoples’ natural resources is a violation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights;
Deeply concerned that continuing spoliation of natural resources by African States and their agents as well as transnational corporations have resulted in serious and systematic violations of human rights especially economic, social and cultural rights of people, including the right to education, to health, to food and to adequate housing;
Also concerned that the practice of unlawful exploitation and theft of natural resources has fuelled many conflicts in Africa resulting in unlawful killing, rape, displacement and other serious human rights violations;
Also concerned that the adequate legal framework to address the problems associated with spoliation and extraction of natural resources by states and their agents and transnational corporations have left victims without effective remedy;
Hereby call, on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to adopt a resolution to:
1. Condemn spoliation and theft of natural resources by state and non state actors including transnational corporations in many African countries as a serious violation of the provision of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights;
2. Declare that individuals and groups who are victims of human rights violation resulting from exploitation and destruction of natural resources are entitled to effective remedies;
3. Request member states to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to ensure transparency in public policy regarding the receipts and payments, extraction management and utilisation of the wealth of mineral resources;
4. Request member states to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights to ensure that environmental policies are formulated as an integral part of the central development process taking into consideration the paradigm of sustainable development;
5. Ask member states to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to ensure that there is a broader level of consultation into civil society organisations and other affected communities when developing policies on the extradition and management of natural resources;
6. Request transnational corporations to publish what they earn and to ensure that their operation does not result in human rights violations.
Done in Banjul, May 8th, 2006
