An urgent environmental information report has been requested asking for further information in light of the increasing stream contamination in Chicamtoltina, Alta Gracia.
The authorities have given no responses as the Chicamtoltina streams have been declared an environmental emergency, compromising both the health and environment of the inhabitants of Alta Gracia and Anisacate. FUNDEPS supported residents in requesting an urgent report to find out more information.
The present state of the Alta Gracia lagoons is alarming. Although initially, the sanitary works project envisaged for the city treatment centre proposed constructing six basins, only four have been built to date. Furthermore, six basins are considered suitable to meet the needs of 15 thousand inhabitants, however, the population of the area currently reaches a total of 50 thousand.
According to information that FUNDEPS has, constructing this group of basins was tendered for, even though at least four more basins are needed for the sewage treatment systems to function effectively. In this context, 40 percent of the population does not have adequate sanitary facilities.Residents of the area have toured the sanitary lagoons facilities to establish the present situation. Firstly, incoming sewage pipes were found covered with cement and soil. Similarly, the filter screens were blocked.
Also, large quantities of waste were seen stuck around the basin edges due to saturation. What’s more, the saturated funnel did not allow the waste to separate and there were no signs of excavation in the area where one of the tendered basins is supposed to be built. The reed beds, in the treatment centre, were also found to be damaged and in a complete state of abandonment. The site shows evidence of significant deterioration: there were abundant mounds of mud contaminated with bacteria, to the extent where lime has had to be thrown on the sewage waste in some areas. The situation gets worse, considering that the main destination for the sewage waste is the streams of Alta Gracia, Chicamtoltina.
Even though the town of Anisacate has been declared an environmental emergency since the 22nd August and the city of Alta Gracia is in the process of being declared, the high levels of faecal coliforms, the accumulation of waste on the stream banks and the concentration of polluting liquids (such as detergents) are worrying.
This is a situation that compromises the health of the inhabitants and the environment of the area. Sewage liquid flowing into the Chicamtoltina Stream In spite of the insistence of the Alta Gracia and Anisacate residents, who have protested and submitted an environmental information request to the authorities for a report on the existence of a project improving the sanitary lagoons, the authorities have made no kind of response nor resolution in this regard. For this reason, FUNDEPS has helped the residents submit an urgent environmental information report to obtain information relating to an eventual improvement, which will end this situation of health and environmental degradation.
Likewise, other legal options are being explored to stop the activities of the sewage treatment company Establecimiento de Depuración de Líquidos Cloacales C.O.S.A.G. LTDA and to repair the environmental damage already caused.
For further information:
please contact: info@fundeps.org
Translated by Clare Sharman
The IADB Changes Its Structure during a Meeting that Excluded Civil Society
Without the participation of civil society, the Board of Governors of the IBD decided to approve an historic institutional restructuring with the intention of consolidating its private sector activities.
As part of the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) held on March 27 and 30 in the city of Bahía, Brazil, the governors of the Bank (finance ministers, central bank presidents, and high-level public officials of the member countries) decided to approve a major internal restructuring that aims to expand and improve its focus on the private sector.
With the restructuring approved in Bahía, “the Bank’s relationship to the private sector will be assumed by the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), which we are calling ‘New Corp’ or ‘New Corporation,’ that will assume the four windows of the IBD that currently serve the private sector,” explained Brazil’s Planning, Budget and Management Minister, Miriam Belchior. “Although the main role of the IDB has been and will be to work with the public sector of its borrowing countries, the time has come to take a fundamental step in regard to the IBD’s work with the private sector,” she added. In this manner, this “New Corporation” will have a role and relevance similar to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the institution of the World Bank Group responsible for directing funding to the private sector.
In turn, the governors decided to capitalize on this “New Corporation” and provide it with a structure to increase its efficiency. In addition, they considered that its main area of activity should be infrastructure investment, a current regional context where private investment has been gaining strength in recent decades. With these considerations, it will be an area that will have to be closely monitored in order to ensure transparent mechanisms of decision-making and respect for human rights and environmental protection standards.
Important Decisions without the Participation of Civil Society
One extremely disturbing aspect is that the approval of this historic restructuring took place in a context where civil society was excluded from the possibility of participating in the Annual Meeting for the first time since 2006, which led to serious questioning on behalf of a group of Civil Society Organizations, including FUNDEPS.
According to Patricia Miranda (Latindadd) y María José Romero (Eurodad): “Controversially, the IDB decided to instead organise a forum two weeks before in the same city, just for civil society organisations, thus denying CSOs access to decision-makers, finance ministers and even the media. This is despite the fact that CSOs have participated in previous IDB annual meetings when key decisions were made, including on IDB replenishment and debt relief.” Miranda and Romero added that “no matter what issues are on this year’s agenda, the IDB is a regional development bank whose processes are expected to follow the highest standards in terms of democratic participation and accountability. The lack of proper implementation of such standards by suddenly excluding civil society undermines the credibility of the Bank and poses an important reputational risk. This also brings up concerns about how the bank will address its future actions considering its goal is the implementation of an inclusive and sustainable development model, which is extremely worrying. CSOs will continue to advocate for an open and accountable process.”
For more information, see the following:
Contact:
Gonzalo Roza / Global Governance Program Coordinator
gon.roza@fundeps.org
Translated by: Jeremy Orloski
Documento de Trabajo 01/2015: “La intervención de las IFIs, ¿altera las Obligaciones Extraterritoriales de los Estados?” – April 2015
La incipiente intervención de Instituciones Financieras Internacionales en proyectos globales de gran envergadura, ha suscitado la cuestión de cuál es el rol de los Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales en la ejecución de tales Proyectos, cuando los mismos exceden los límites territoriales de los Estados intervinientes. Así, este Documento de Trabajo busca abordar la compleja relación existente entre las IFIs, las Obligaciones Extraterritoriales de los Estados y la protección de los Derechos Humanos.
Alta Gracia: Follow-up of the cause that discusses the constitutionality of the “Protected Environmental Zones”
Last Friday, March 21st the FUNDEPS Human Rights team visited the courts and the legal counsel of the city of Alta Gracia, to continue the follow-up of the case that discusses the constitutionality of the “Protected Environmental Zones” established by Municipal ordinance No. 9375.
The Municipal Legal Counselor, Dr. Daniel Villar, who was informed about the court filing carried out by FUNDEPS and the neighbors of the city, received our team. The claim is related to the legal case initiated by the VERDOL SA. Company, which has attacked the constitutionality of the ordinance that prohibits fumigation in the created “Protected Environmental Zones”. Said zone consists of an area that extends for 1500 meters and that was created for the purpose of guaranteeing the human right to life, health and a healthy environment.
The municipal legal counselor, after finding out about our legal action along with the local neighbors, declared that from the municipality “the participation of the neighbors in this cause is celebrated because this way the authenticity of their claim is guaranteed”, by stating this he maintained the constitutionality of the questioned municipal ordinance.
During the visit to Alta Gracia, the FUNDEPS team met with the neighbors in the name of the claimants to update them on the case and to discuss the next steps to be completed, always with the objective of defending the constitutionality of ordinance 9375. To continue with the follow-up of the case, our team will send out the pertinent court notifications to the involved parties, among them the VERDOL SA company, regarding the court filing carried out for the neighbors of the place.
Translated by: Elizabeth Griffin
Residents of Alta Gracia File Court Papers in Support of the Constitutionality of Environmental Protection Zones
FUNDEPS appeared together with residents of Alta Gracia in a legal case to discuss the constitutionality of the ‘Zone of Environmental Protection’, in which the use of chemical spraying is prohibited. The regulations, which are disputed by farmers, have led to an important advance in the protection of the human right to health for the citizens of Alta Gracia, and the end of environmental pollution that should be guaranteed by law.
The by-law in question today is the result of the work of social movements that have managed to protect the outer suburbs of the city of Alta Gracia from repeated exposure to agrochemicals resulting from chemical spraying. The by-law clearly states that ‘all agrochemicals are potentially toxic’ and that ‘chronic and repeated exposure over long periods of time to even low levels of agrochemicals could be responsible for illnesses.’
These extreme effects have been confirmed in the inquiry by a medical report carried out by the Department of Allergies and Immunology at the National Clinical Hospital (UNC, National University of Córdoba), in which levels of disease much higher than average were detected in one of the affected neighbourhoods. According to the study that was carried out, ‘51% of those polled were affected by some type of illness, with a higher incidence amongst children,’ with asthma being the most recurrent condition. This finding indicates ‘a percentage that greatly exceeds the results of other studies of the prevalence of asthma carried out in the city of Córdoba.’ A year and a half since the introduction of the by-law, the Municipality of Alta Gracia states that it has seen a fall in the number of cases of skin and respiratory system conditions. Likewise, the medical report presented in the court papers explains that ‘…since then and to date, there is an overall perception by the residents that corresponds with a decrease in the appearance of new illnesses in the area.’
It should be noted that since mid-2013 FUNDEPS has held meetings with the inhabitants of Alta Gracia, who have made their voices heard through a legal process which has a direct impact on their quality of life. Through this work they are becoming participants in the legal process, hoping to maintain the appropriate public policy necessary to protect the right to good health and environment for the residents of Alta Gracia. FUNDEPS’ Programme of Human Rights will follow up the case, urging the courts to adequately recognise and value the constitutional responsibility to protect health and the environment.
A Key Year for the Transparency in BNDES
Through the intense internal work done by the Latin American Civil Society in 2013, 2014 appears to be a key year for encouraging transparency and access to information within BNDES and thus aiming to strengthen the regime of socio-environmental safeguards of the Institution.
The Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) constitutes, nowadays, one of the main financial sources of infrastructural work in the Latin American region, Argentina being one of its principal clients. However, the strong growth that the Bank has experienced in its number of activities throughout the recent decades and that it has been allowed to cross the national borders of Brazil with its operations has not come accompanied by the corresponding adjustment in its operational policies and rules of operation to the high standards currently in the Latin American countries, including in International Financial Institutions or multilateral bodies that operate in the region, such as the World Bank, the IADB or the Inter-American Development Bank, among others. At least in terms of socio-environmental safeguards, public participation and transparency; which is an important concern for the Civil Society of Latin America, since a large part of the projects financed by BNDES result in enormous socio-environmental impacts in the territories in which they develop, and the possibilities of participation and of access to information of such projects is extremely limited.
In this context, during 2013 FUNDEPS has worked, alongside a group of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), as many being Brazilian ones, as ones from the rest of the South American countries, in the effort to clarify the actions and financings of this Institution in the region. Thus, for example, through having participated in various workshops about the operation of BNDES created in the months of June and October 2013 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, FUNDEPS took active participation in the International Workshop of the Civil Society “BNDES’s Agenda: dialogues, convergences and incidence” carried out on the 26th and 27th of November, in the city of Brasilia (Brazil). In this event FUNDEPS presented, alongside other organizations of the region, the document “Guidelines for the Discussion on the Implementation of a Policy of Access to Information for BNDES”, which contains a Model Policy of Access to Information for the Bank and a series of counter-arguments against the reasons alleged by the institution to restrict the information. Both resources have the aim to serve as basic and essential tools for the future incident actions regarding the Organization.
In that regard, 2014 seems to be a key year, since the Bank has decided to open the gateway for dialogue with the Civil Society and to set up an institutionalized space for discussion with the SCOs, where different subject matters concerning the operation and functioning of the Organization are addressed. The first of these meetings, agreed on for February of 2014, will approach the subject of Transparency and Access to Information within BNDES fairly, which with a doubt forms a unique opportunity to work alongside the Bank with a view to perfect its regime of transparency and access to information. The bad news is that this space will be restricted, at least for the moment, to Brazilian organizations only, without participation of the rest of the organizations in the region. Despite this impediment, FUNDEPS will continue working throughout 2014 in the effort to make the actions of BNDES clear and ensure that the Bank adopts an appropriate Policy of Access to Information, a prerequisite to be able to effectively influence the strengthening of the socio-environmental safeguards applied to the projects financed by the Institution.
Resource:
Document of Work – Transparencia en el BNDES. Una agenda de desarrollo. (Transparency in BNDES. A Development Agenda)
Contact:
Gonzalo Roza – Coordinator of the Global Governability Programme
gon.roza@fundeps.org
Translated by: Max Jeremiah
Lineamientos para la Discusión. Implementación de una Política de Acceso a la Información para el Banco Nacional de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Brasil (BNDES) – January 2014
Esta publication es el resultado de un trabajo conjunto entre diversas organizaciones regionales de la sociedad civil interesadas en promover la transparencia y el acceso a la información en el Banco Nacional de Desarrollo Económico y Social del Brasil (BNDES), dada la importancia que este ha cobrado recientemente en los países de la región. La primera parte del documento presenta algunas ideas y argumentos iniciales de por qué es necesaria una Política de Acceso a la Información al interior del Banco, considerando algunas limitaciones previamente esbozadas por representantes del BNDES, como la soberanía de los Estados, la dependencia a la política externa y el secreto bancario. La segunda parte del documento presenta una propuesta base de Política de Acceso a la Información para el Banco, la cual considera los más altos estándares de transparencia que manejan otros Bancos Nacionales de Desarrollo, Instituciones Financieras Nacionales e Internacionales y, también, los principios y mecanismos de la Ley de Acceso a la Información Brasileña.
Balance del proceso de reglamentación de la ley nacional de protección de bosques nativos en la Provincia de Córdoba. ¿Y ahora qué? – January 2011
FUNDEPS – Documento de trabajo
Documento de Trabajo 1/2014: “Transparencia, una cuenta pendiente para el BNDES” – January 2014
En este Documento de Trabajo de FUNDEPS aborda la creciente necesidad de que el Banco Nacional de Desarrollo Económico y Social del Brasil (BNDES) incremente la transparencia en sus operaciones. A medida que el financiamiento del BNDES en Sudamérica se incrementa, y se intensifican los impactos socioambientales de losproyectos que financia, se hace cada vez más evidente la necesidad de que la Institución adopte una Política de Acceso a la Información y transparente su accionar en la región.
Urgent Environmental Report Requested on Stream Contamination in Chicamtoltina, Alta Gracia
An urgent environmental information report has been requested asking for further information in light of the increasing stream contamination in Chicamtoltina, Alta Gracia.
The authorities have given no responses as the Chicamtoltina streams have been declared an environmental emergency, compromising both the health and environment of the inhabitants of Alta Gracia and Anisacate. FUNDEPS supported residents in requesting an urgent report to find out more information.
The present state of the Alta Gracia lagoons is alarming. Although initially, the sanitary works project envisaged for the city treatment centre proposed constructing six basins, only four have been built to date. Furthermore, six basins are considered suitable to meet the needs of 15 thousand inhabitants, however, the population of the area currently reaches a total of 50 thousand.
According to information that FUNDEPS has, constructing this group of basins was tendered for, even though at least four more basins are needed for the sewage treatment systems to function effectively. In this context, 40 percent of the population does not have adequate sanitary facilities.Residents of the area have toured the sanitary lagoons facilities to establish the present situation. Firstly, incoming sewage pipes were found covered with cement and soil. Similarly, the filter screens were blocked.
Also, large quantities of waste were seen stuck around the basin edges due to saturation. What’s more, the saturated funnel did not allow the waste to separate and there were no signs of excavation in the area where one of the tendered basins is supposed to be built. The reed beds, in the treatment centre, were also found to be damaged and in a complete state of abandonment. The site shows evidence of significant deterioration: there were abundant mounds of mud contaminated with bacteria, to the extent where lime has had to be thrown on the sewage waste in some areas. The situation gets worse, considering that the main destination for the sewage waste is the streams of Alta Gracia, Chicamtoltina.
This is a situation that compromises the health of the inhabitants and the environment of the area. Sewage liquid flowing into the Chicamtoltina Stream In spite of the insistence of the Alta Gracia and Anisacate residents, who have protested and submitted an environmental information request to the authorities for a report on the existence of a project improving the sanitary lagoons, the authorities have made no kind of response nor resolution in this regard. For this reason, FUNDEPS has helped the residents submit an urgent environmental information report to obtain information relating to an eventual improvement, which will end this situation of health and environmental degradation.
Likewise, other legal options are being explored to stop the activities of the sewage treatment company Establecimiento de Depuración de Líquidos Cloacales C.O.S.A.G. LTDA and to repair the environmental damage already caused.
For further information:
please contact: info@fundeps.org
Translated by Clare Sharman
FUNDEPS takes part in the Preparatory Meeting of UNASUR’s First Citizen Participation Forum
The creation of this open space received a warm welcome from civil society organizations and movements. Additionally, it underlined the importance of ensuring mechanisms of transparency, accountability and community participation, as UNASUR is a space from which large projects with a significant impact can be initiated.
With a number of important national and regional organisations and social movements in attendance, the Preparatory Meeting of UNASUR’s first Citizen’s Participation Forum took place on 19th and 20th September in Buenos Aires. Organised by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, the main purpose of the meeting was to agree with South American citizens the Forum’s Operating Guidelines which were approved by the Heads of Council and Heads of State of UNASUR’s Governing body in August 2013; and to discuss its internal structure and workings, in light of the first Citizens Participation Forum (CPF) due to take place in November in the city of Cochabamba in Bolivia.
The meeting’s dynamics were based on the organisation of work groups made up of representatives from South American social groups and various representatives and civil servants of UNASUR’s member States. Each group discussed all three of the main topics on the agenda: the Internal Workings of the Forum; regional topics for discussion by the Forum; and the “Route Map” leading up to the first Forum in Cochabamba.
The creation of a citizen participation space, as part of the integration process at a regional and national level which UNASUR is taking forward is welcome and long anticipated, and is the result of what is stipulated in Article 18 of their Founding Treaty. For this reason, the majority of the social groups which took part in the meeting asked that the political decision of member States to pursue the creation of the Citizen Participation Forum be highlighted and congratulated.
At any rate, during the conference the work groups reflected their intention to validate and strengthen this initiative, as well as strongly emphasising the need to work exhaustively and continually on the internal workings of the Forum in order to reach an effective level of operation. As a result, amongst other things, it underlined the importance of:
It should be noted that participation in the CPF is open to any South American organisation, social movement, community or individual, for which it brings together and encourages everyone interested in participating in a process destined to play an important role in the integration of the South American people. For this reason, time and again throughout the meeting, the representative of the Argentinian Foreign Ministry, Marcela Bordenave, Focal Point for Citizen Participation in Argentina in respect of UNASUR emphasised that: “South American integration is not an issue for governments. It is a matter for the people”.
See the minutes of the Meeting of South America Social Groups to prepare for the first Citizen Participation Forum of UNASUR.
For more information:
Página Web de UNASUR
Página web de Cancillería Argentina – Sección de la Subsecretaría de Política Latinoamericana
Tratado Constitutivo de UNASUR
Directrices para el Funcionamiento del Foro de Participación Ciudadana de UNASUR
Declaración de Paramaribo – Agosto de 2013
Decisión N°2/2013 de UNASUR – Aprobación de las Directrices del Foro de Participación Ciudadana
Decisión N°7/2012 de UNASUR – Creación del Foro de Participación Ciudadana
Contact:
Lic. Gonzalo Roza / Programme Coordinator of Global Governance
gon.roza@fundeps.org
Translated by: Stephen Routledge
Amicus curiae to defend the right to health and the environment in Alta Gracia
The field of Human Rights of FUNDEPS presents amicus curiae demanding the effective application of the ban on fumigating in areas of protected environmental area in Alta Gracia to adequately protect the right to health and a healthy environment for the people.
The field of Human Rights of the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policy (FUNDEPS) filed an amicus curiae before the chamber No. 8 of the Civil and Commercial Court of the City of Córdoba, which has to decide on an appeal given by the agro-industrial company Verdol S.A. to obtain, through a preventative measure, permission to use agrochemicals in the area established by the town of Alta Gracia as “Protected Environmental Area.”
International requests for the World Bank to change its perspective on health programmes
FUNDEPS signs up to the petition of 110 non-governmental organisations calling for the World Bank to change the criteria relating to projects in the area of health and to actively promote universal health coverage.
At the end of the World Bank’s annual meeting which took place in Tokyo, Japan, numerous non-governmental organizations presented a letter requesting that the World Bank modify the criteria relating to projects in the area of health and that it actively promotes universal health coverage.
As part of their work on health rights, FUNDEPS signed up to the initiative which makes specific recommendations to the World Bank to change practices in the area of health. The thrust of this request is to understand health as a right which cannot be subject to market rules but rather by the logic of the need to protect the most vulnerable; those who in practice are denied the right to health. The recommendations include:
These organizations will monitor the responses to these requests and the impact of World Bank programs in the effective enjoyment of the right to health.
For more information:
– Note calling for a change of perspective of the World Bank programs in the field of health
Translated by Stephen Routledge