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9 December 2003
| Intag
Court
Injuction
Decoin and the World Bank
A Helping Hand
Court
Injunction
A few weeks ago DECOIN organized a trip to the Constitutional
Tribunal to let the 3-judge lower Constitutional Tribunal
court know our opposition to mining in Intag, as our mayor
and lawyer was presenting more proofs of our opposition, and
strengthening our case. Though we only had one day to
organize the trip, we were able to get with 30 folks from
Intag, including a local afro-Ecuadorian dance group, that
danced outside the Court's doors, as the rest of our us were
making sure the judges, who were 5 floors up on the building,
heard our protests (they did). We were also joined by about
20 U.S. students studying in Ecuador (SIT), and some passerbys.
Two weeks ago the Constitutional Injunction went to the nine
judge Tribunal, after two of the three judges in one of the
courts at the same Tribunal, ruled in our favor (we needed
the sentence of all three to have ended positively there).
The higher the court hearing, the more open to political influence
and corruption. We are counting on national and international
pressure to make sure the judges think twice before
deciding along economic.along political interests.
DECOIN
and the World Bank
DECOIN has been involved from the beginning in the independent
Extractive Industries Review (EIR), set up to review the World
Bank's lending policies to the extractive industries (gas,
oil and mining). The EIR issued its official report
last week (available at: http://www.eireview.org),
and not only does it make public damming evidence about the
negative economic, social and environmental impacts these
industries generate in developing countries, but recommends
the Bank pulls out inmediately of funding coal projects
in developing countries, but also recommends it stops funding
all petroleum extracting projects by 2008.
Other recommendations
include:
• all World Bank projects should protect human rights,
including the right to Previous Informed Consent for communities
and, especially, indigenous peoples;
• and that it stays well away from funding extractive
projects in any protected area.
It is very much worth the read, especially volume one, which
includes conclusions and the recommendations. The World
Bank has officially agreed to implement the recommendations.
The final workshop is scheduled to take place DEC 11 to 13
in Lisbon. This workshop will be attended by 100 representatives
of: NG0's, indigenous peoples, community representatives,
Government ministers (from 14 countries, including the coal-based
China), Extractive Industries CEO's, from all over the world,
as well as World Bank officials. Carlos Zorrilla has been
invited by the NGO's to attend the meeting. Looking forward
to some fireworks.
HELPING HAND
The Sloth Club is one of the organization that has continually
supported Decoin and the alternative initiatives taking place
in Intag. It is a Japanese based organization created to,
among other things, making people aware of the negative effects
of a harried-consumer based lifestyle. They are in favor
of taking the time to do things right, and, in general, slow
down. They take the Sloth as their "model animal", a
mammal whose environmental impact is minimal, and lifestyle
is in total harmony with its environment. Check out their
web site for more information:
The Sloth Club
http://www.sloth.gr.jp/
For additional information about DECOIN please contact:
DECOIN, Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag
Casilla 144
Otavalo, Imbabura
Ecuador
decoin@hoy.net
www.decoin.org
Thank you,
Carlos Zorrilla
Executive Director Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag
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