Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

Chapter 2.7: International Processes and Complaints Mechanisms
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Activists argue that companies need to conduct human rights
impact assessments, and an increasing number of guidelines
on their implementation are being created. It is important to
make sure that any impact assessment is independent and that
the initiative comes, as far as possible, from the affected community,
and the process is as participatory as possible. Even
where the company is the main proponent, however, it can
still be a useful tool. Goldcorp conducted its own human rights
impact assessment at its Marlin mine in Guatemala in response
to numerous accusations of wrongdoing by local communities.
Even then the report found widespread human rights abuses
at the mine, including abuse of the right to consultation, right
to property, right to freedom of association and collective bargaining,
and failure to create effective grievance mechanisms
for its employees and community members. 33
One of the contentious areas around the extractive industries—especially
with regard to human rights—is the potential
for conflict, and the use of armed guards to protect projects.
Therefore, a number of governments and NGOs have been
working on the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human
Rights. Both the ICMM and IPIECA are involved in this process,
as well as major extractive industry companies (in fact
nearly all of the companies participating are from the extractive
industries). It contains many provisions to avoid conflict,
and what to do if it arises. Given the heinous nature of the
abuses involved, however, surely something more than a voluntary
code of conduct is required. 34
Issues of transparency are one of the areas that extractive
industry companies generally feel more comfortable addressing,
certainly in comparison to human rights. This issue
was covered in Chapter 2.2, where the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI) was reviewed. It is, however,
not the only such scheme. For instance there is the Global
Reporting Initiative for sustainable development, which is
another multi-stakeholder process that was set up in 1997
to enhance transparency in reports of company’s operations
and impacts. As Roger Moody however comments in his book
Rocks and Hard Places, the Global Reporting Initiative “flies on
a wing and a prayer, scarcely loftier than previous essays in the
same direction and replete with good, but vague, intentions.” 35