Global Policy Forum

By Jim Lobe

Corporate interests are inflicting a devastating toll on both human rights and the environment in many parts of the world, according to a report released Thursday by Amnesty International, which lambasted the U.S. government for failing to use its influence to protect local activists.

"Amnesty International is alarmed at the disturbing trend to persecute environmental defenders for asserting their basic rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful protest," said Curt Goering, deputy director of Amnesty's U.S. branch (AIUSA).

"In today's global economy, defending the earth and communities' ways of life is often a dangerous enterprise," he said. "The economics of globalization often clashes with universal human rights and the health of our environment."

The report, 'Environmentalists Under Fire,' highlights half a dozen case studies of alleged corporate abuses in Indonesia, Ecuador, Russia, Mexico, India, Chad, and Cameroon. In each case, according to the report, the U.S.--home to many of the world's largest corporations--either failed to intercede with the companies or governments involved or muted public criticism against them.

In perhaps the most blatant example, the U.S. State Department last summer asked a federal judge to dismiss a case brought by Indonesian plaintiffs who had sued ExxonMobil for serious human rights abuses, including torture and killings, committed against them or their family members by Indonesian troops employed to provide security for the company's huge natural-gas operations in Aceh province. The Department said the case could harm cooperation between the U.S. and the Indonesian military in Washington's war on terrorism.

The U.S. government has also promoted ExxonMobil's construction of a major oil pipeline in Chad and Cameroon, despite evidence that the project has worsened civil strife and repression in Chad and also resulted in the persecution of environmental activists in both countries, according to the report.

In Ecuador, environmental and indigenous activists have suffered repression at the hands of state authorities benefiting from investment by Occidental Petroleum and ChevronTexaco, while in Colombia, the U.S. Congress recently approved close to US$100 million to train, equip, and deploy an entire battalion of army troops to protect a pipeline owned by Occidental.

These companies, which have strongly denied that they directed or condoned any of the abuses that have taken place, enjoy considerable influence in Washington, according to Amnesty. Collectively, they contributed $2.8 million dollars to political campaigns during the 2002 election cycle. Of that total, more than $2.2 million went to the Republican Party and its candidates.

But because the U.S. is home to so many powerful corporations, particularly in the most environmentally destructive industries, such as oil, gas, and mining, Amnesty said that the U.S. government should demonstrate leadership in holding companies accountable for their human rights and environmental performance.

"In an increasing number of countries, including many the U.S. identifies as allies--such as Indonesia and Colombia--U.S. power is primarily understood through the actions of multinational corporations with ties to the United States," said Folabi Olagbaju, director of AIUSA's Just Earth! program, which focuses specifically on the persecution of environmental defenders.

"The U.S. government must do more to hold corporations accountable to the highest standards of human rights, or else risk damaging its moral authority at a time when (Washington's) reputation is increasingly suspect," he warned.

Not all the news is bad, according to Amnesty. In the past year, environmental defenders such as Grigory Pasko, a Russian reporter sentenced to serve four years at a labor camp for exposing illegal dumping of nuclear waste by the Russian military, and two Mexican environmental activists jailed on trumped-up charges after exposing illegal logging around their communities, were freed as a result of international grassroots campaigns.

In response to similar efforts, the World Bank has created an International Advisory Group (IAG) to provide independent oversight over the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project to provide local communities with some say over the project's implementation.

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