Item 10
Economic, social and cultural rights
Oral
statement by the Transnational Radical Party, a
non-governmental organisation in general consultative
status
Delivered by Olga Cechurova
Geneva, 8 April 1999
Mr. Chairman,
A free market economy
based on the Rule of Law, on the laws and standards
for the market, is a fundamental condition for the
existence and enjoyment of economic, social and
cultural well-being of every individual. There is a
fundamental difference between the Rule of Law and
the rules of the free market. The first is created
according to a fixed legal iter and has to respond to
certain basic values that the UN Charter seeks to
protect. The second is flexible and although it has
proven to be the most effective means to protect
individual liberty, it has to respond and act
according to the first. And this is precisely what is
not happening in some parts of the world where
transnational corporations are active.
A specific group
affected by these corporations are indigenous
peoples. According to any social and economic
indicator Indigenous Peoples are the single most
disadvantaged group in society. They receive lower
pro capita income, they have the highest
unemployment, they work in the worst paid jobs, have
the worst housing, the least access to education, the
poorest health condition, and enjoy comparatively
less social welfare.
Indigenous lands are
also particularly affected by environmental
degradation and pollution. In the last decades, areas
occupied by indigenous peoples have been subjected to
intensive developments in the form of mining,
hydroelectric, logging and agro-industrial
development, as well as settlement by non-indigenous
peoples. These activities have often resulted in
adverse social and environmental impacts on
indigenous peoples
The disruptive
activities of Transnational Corporations have in many
cases caused tension, sometimes disrupting in
conflicts involving indigenous peoples; the
situations of the peoples of Ogoni, and West Papua
are just two examples.
Through their
activities and financial support, Transnational
Corporations often play a major role in the
sustaining of repressive regimes. This has clearly
been the case in West Papua, where the Freeport Mine
is an important source of income for the Indonesian
regime; it is the case in Nigeria, where the
relationship between the regime and Shell had a major
impact on the Ogoni population.
The Indonesian
Government offers profitable opportunities to foreign
investors for the exploitation of the natural
resources of West Papua. These foreign investors can
be multinationals such as the mining giant Freeport
Mc Moran, which is now mining for copper and gold on
the land of the Amungme in West Papua. Other
investors are companies which take part in a big
so-called development projects such as the one taking
place in Mamberamo area where the Government wants to
build dams for a project to develop hydro-power. The
people in the Mamberamo area know little to nothing
of what is about to happen to them and to their land.
Another aspect of the
violation of the economic, social and cultural rights
of the people in West Papua is transmigration. This
organised migration of people from heavily populated
regions such as Java, to less densely populated ones
such as West Papua, very often subsidised by the
Government, has negative economic and social
consequences for the indigenous people of West Papua.
The new-comers usually have an advantaged position on
the job market and in other fields of the economy. As
most newcomers are also subsidized by the Government,
West Papuans find it hard to compete in a society
where they are becoming a marginalized society; a
disadvantaged minority on their own land.
Transmigration also
has a cultural and social implication: West Papuans
are looked down upon and considered as primitive by
the Indonesian authorities. They are discriminated
and their culture is often only valued as some
"exotism", it sells well on the markets but
the money goes to the Indonesian entrepreneurs.
The Transnational
Radical Party is convinced that there is no freedom
without a free market and no free market economy
without the Rule of Law. States should be helped and
encouraged to ensure and improve the law-based
well-being of all its citizens, including the
indigenous populations. The TRP asks this Commission
to pay due attention to the activities of the
transnational corporations and its impact on the life
of indigenous peoples.
Thank you, Madam
Chairperson.
