Natural wealth and human rights; Where does the thin line fall?
By Hilary Vidija
From blood diamonds in Sierra Leone, oil induced Delta conflict in Nigeria to the Abyei oil conflict between Northern and southern Sudan among several other nations, discovery of natural resources ought to be a source of joy and prosperity but gloom and doom greets many poor Africans at the mention of minerals.
From land, water and mineral deposits, natural resources have become one of the biggest sources of conflict for many African countries today and have continued to paralyse a large section of Africa instead of improving people’s economic lives. Whether there were to be blessings, curses prevail.
Business and human rights, as is fronted by extractive industry in Kenya today, is one of the new and emerging human rights issues across Kenya today. In picking from previous lessons within and without, the Kenya National commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) is positioning itself to engage at initial stages with the mining and exploration activities in conjunction with communities, investors and other stakeholders.
The discovery of oil in Northern Kenya and coal mining in Kitui County are just but afew of the opportunities the commission is already engaging in to ensure that communities, investors and other stakeholders infuse human rights standards in their practice and interaction to ensure that these excavation activities adhere to both international and human rights standards.
While promising economic growth and social development from the exploitation of natural resources, it has been observed that most of extractive industries could have contributed to the devastation of the local communities social, economic and cultural fabric as well as countries governance systems and economic structures, leading to; increase in poverty in the areas in which the extractive industries operate, human rights abuse and, sometimes, irreversible environmental degradation.
On coal mining, Mui basin in Kitui County is soon to be flung to the limelight as the planned multimillion coal mining process begins. The Commission has been engaging the county government and citizens to ensure that the industry benefits and does not seclude the growth of the community it is being undertaken. Familiarization forums have been held with Community Based Organizations (CBOs), local leaders and community opinion shapers in Mui Basin with the aim of promoting community participation in the coal mining activity.
So far, KNCHR observes there is widespread apathy on the coal project from the community as well as exclusion of the community and concealment of information by public officers regarding concession agreement made on the coal deposit between the Kenyan government and the Chinese concessionaire. In our continued efforts to set foundation for a human rights friendly coal project, KNCHR seeks to engage state actors responsible for overseeing the mining project to ensure that they uphold human rights and the constitutional principles of participation transparency and accountability in decisions concerning the coal deposits in Kitui.
A two day training seminar for the Kitui County Executive and the County Assembly members will be held in July to build their capacity on human rights and the extractive sector with a focus to coal mining. The training will focus on the obligation and duties of state actors in the coal investment highlighting potential human rights risks and possible mitigation measures.
The discovery of strategic minerals has awakened the debate on the destructive potential of the extractive industry to the country’s social and economic fabric. The exploitation of minerals can be devastating to the welfare of a State and even more to the welfare of the host communities resulting to a ‘resource curse’ signifying the irony of misfortune brought about by the exploitation of the otherwise lucrative mineral resource.
The perceived poor performance of the extractive sector which has largely been attributed to weak, ineffective and archaic legal regimes coupled by ineffective oversight institutions and mechanisms can be salvaged by putting into place firm regulations and policies, all the while responsible authorities and institution strictly monitoring the compliance with such regulations and laws.