|
NEWS July 1st 2003
|
||
|
BP chases 'free public money' for Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. The battle over BP's controversial $3.5bn Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline entered a new phase last week as the project began the approval process for World Bank and European funding. BP is seeking $150m each from the International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank) and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The next stage of the approval process lasts 120 days. Valerie Amos, the UK's new International Development Secretary (replacing Claire Short) holds the UK vote on both bodies. The decision is being seen by campaigners as a test of her commitment to human rights and socially just development. Nicholas Hildyard, of the Corner House, part of the
coalition campaigning against the pipeline, commented, 'This pipeline
will be a key test of the Government’s international development
priorities. We know Blair is close to BP. The question is whether Amos
is prepared to stand up to him and ensure that Britain’s international
human rights obligations are met.' Kerim Yildiz, director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, added, 'We are amazed that World Bank and EBRD staff consider the project ready for their Boards and the public to consider. Fact-finding missions which have just returned from the pipeline route report major problems in consultation and land compensation, and serious human rights concerns. It seems the institutions have relied on what BP has claimed on paper - but the reality on the ground is far different.' Last week, 72 human rights and environment groups from 29 countries called for a moratorium on the BTC pipeline, arguing that it would worsen the human rights situation along the pipeline route, and that a background of lack of freedom of speech in the region made proper consultation impossible. But the greatest criticism has been of the project legal agreements, which over-ride all laws that might affect the project (present and future) in the three host countries, for the next 40 years. If during that time any government tried to introduce a new law - whether environmental, human rights, social or other - which affected the pipeline’s profits, that government would have to compensate the consortium. Last month, a legal report by Amnesty International slammed the agreements for over-riding human rights rules, and found Turkey in breach of its obligations under their accession agreements with the European Union. [4] Tony Juniper, of Friends of the Earth, commented, “This pipeline would make BP the effective governing power of a large swathe of three countries, with a right to decide which laws apply and which don’t.' The application to the World Bank and EBRD is for what BP’s Chief Executive Lord Browne has called “free public money”. However, critics argue that the real reason for public involvement is so that the consortium can use the political muscle of western governments to protect the project’s profitability. According to Greg Muttitt of PLATFORM, “BP needs public money mainly because if a future government of one of the countries tried to obtain a better deal from pipeline revenues, they would face pressure from the World Bank and EBRD, which they depend on, rather than just from BP. The irony is that the World Bank - whose mandate is to support development - is in fact being involved in this project specifically to hamper development, by restricting government revenues”.
Amnesty International has just released a report, 'Human Rights on the Line: The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline Project' on the human rights implications of the project. It is available on the web at http://www.amnesty.org.uk/business/btc/press.shtml |