Resolutions on Natural Resources and Human Rights

Considering international and regional standards including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which expressly states in article 21 that all people shall freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources which shall be exercised in the exclusion interest of people, and in no case shall the people be deprived of it, the dispossessed people shall have a right to lawful recovery of its properties as well as to adequate compensation;

Bearing in mind article 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which states that all people shall have the right to a general satisfactory environment favourable to their development;

Considering provisions in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which guarantee the protection and promotion of individual and collective rights;

Considering that provisions of the Constitutive Act of the African Union require the promotion and protection of human rights and obligates member states to promote the social economic development of Africa and raise the standard of living of African people;

Underlining that African states face cross cutting same problems when it comes to exploitation of natural resources and human rights. Key among them:

Deeply concerned by excess poverty among the local people that do not benefit from the exploitation of natural resources due to corruption, lack of transparency and governance, and mismanagement of resource revenues;

Preoccupied that the persistence of lack of access to education, health care, adequate livelihoods and satisfactory environment violate the human dignity of African people;

Deeply concerned that the practice of unlawful exploitation and theft of natural resources fuel conflict in Africa resulting in unlawful killings, rape, displacement, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other serious human rights abuses.

Recommend to the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights that it calls upon States to:

1. Enable the full participation of local people in decision-making processes concerning the exploitation of natural recourses;
2. Adhere to mechanisms which enable transparency and accountability in management of natural resources;
3. Take internal legislative measures to implement provisions relating to natural resources contained in the Declaration of the United Nations on Indigenous Peoples;
4. Take appropriate measures to respect good governance practices in natural resource management, fight poverty and use income generated from natural resources to ensure the full realisation of economic, social and cultural rights;
5. Guarantee equitable distribution of revenue from natural resources in order to ensure the well being of local populations.

Urge the Commission to:

1. Condemn the patterns of human rights violations resulting from extractive sector activities in particular; mining; oil; gas, fisheries; forestry, wildlife etc,. Put in place a working group that will investigate human rights violations linked to the exploitation of natural resources in Africa

Done in Brazzaville, November 12th, 2007