Richesses spoliées, vies compromises: le coût humain de la fuite des capitaux en Afrique

L’analyse dans le livre La Dette odieuse de l’Afrique révèle le fait choquant que l’Afrique sub-Saharienne (SSA) est ‘créditrice’ nette vis-à-vis du reste du monde, dans la mesure où le stock des capitaux ayant fuit le sous-continent excède de loin le stock de sa dette extérieure. La fuite des capitaux est estimée à plus de 700 milliards de dollars sur la période de 1970 à 2008, contre une dette totale de 175 milliards de dollars en 2008. L’analyse révèle aussi que la fuite des capitaux est étroitement liée aux flux d’emprunts publics. Pour chaque dollar emprunté, en moyenne plus de 50 cents quittent subtilement le continent africain dans la même année. En fait souvent l’argent ne sort même pas des banques ayant financé le crédit à l’état africain ; par un jeu d’écriture, une partie des prêts se retrouve sur le compte privé du dirigeant chargé de négocier la dette pour son pays. Ainsi la fuite des capitaux et la dette extérieure sont liées par une « porte tournante », facilitée par la corruption du côté des dirigeants africains et la complicité de leurs banquiers dans les centres financiers occidentaux.

Un autre conduit de la fuite des capitaux est la manipulation des paiements du commerce extérieur. Les importateurs gonflent la facture des importations afin de récupérer un excédent de change, alors que les exportateurs sous-déclarent la valeur des marchandises vendues et dissimulent la différence dans les comptes bancaires à l’extérieur. Les pertes par le biais de ces manipulations du commerce extérieur sont plus manifestes dans le secteur des ressources naturelles où opèrent de grandes multinationales. Celles-ci profitent de la complexité des opérations et du grand volume des transactions dans ce secteur pour minimiser leur facture d’impôt. L’évasion fiscale est devenue encore plus facile avec la prolifération des paradis fiscaux et la complexité de la structure de la gouvernance des multinationales. Ainsi les pays africains se voient spoliés de leurs richesses en même temps qu’ils continuent à peiner pour payer des dettes extérieures dont une partie a alimenté la fuite des capitaux – ou ‘dettes odieuses’. Entre temps, le service des dettes odieuses prive les gouvernements africains de fonds nécessaires pour le financement des services sociaux notamment les soins de santé.

Évidemment même lorsqu’une fraction de l'emprunt extérieur est détournée, l'Afrique reçoit toujours un afflux net d'argent, inférieure quand bien même à la valeur nominale de la dette. La ponction nette vient dans les années subséquentes lorsque la dette est remboursée, dans son entièreté, avec intérêt. En utilisant les données de la Banque mondiale, nous estimons qu’avec chaque dollar supplémentaire de service de la dette, 29 cents de moins sont consacrés aux soins de santé publique, et que chaque réduction de $40.000 en dépenses de santé se traduit par un décès infantile supplémentaire. Ainsi, nous estimons que le service de la dette sur les prêts qui ont alimenté la fuite des capitaux occasionne plus de 77.000 décès de nourrissons supplémentaires par an. La fuite des capitaux n’est donc pas seulement de l’escroquerie financière ; elle occasionne des pertes en vies humaines.

Que faire ? La responsabilité de la fuite des capitaux incombe aussi bien aux gouvernants africains qu’aux acteurs occidentaux, tant les banques qui sont complices dans la dissimulation des fonds que tout bailleur de fonds qui met ses intérêts stratégiques au-dessus des besoins de développement. Le plus grand défi essentiel est la transparence dans la gestion de la dette et des ressources nationales ainsi que la bonne diligence dans les opérations bancaires et le financement du développement. Les pays africains devraient procéder à un audit systématique des dettes publiques pour  établir leur légitimité. Ils auront alors droit de répudier unilatéralement toute dette jugée illégitime ou ‘odieuse’ dans la mesure où : (1) la dette a été contractée sans le consentement du peuple (notamment par un gouvernement dictateur) ; (2) la dette n’a pas bénéficié au peuple (le crédit n’a pas financé le développement) ; et (3) le bailleur de fonds savait ou était en mesure de savoir si oui ou non les deux premières conditions sont remplies. Un processus transparent d’audit établirait l’objectivité de la répudiation sélective de la dette. Elle protègerait les créanciers légitimes en pénalisant les spéculateurs et les complices de la corruption, et contribuerait aussi à améliorer l’efficacité de l’aide.

Les gouvernements partenaires de l’Afrique comme le Canada ont un rôle essentiel à jouer dans le combat contre la fuite des capitaux en Afrique. En capitalisant sur sa longue expérience d’appui au développement en Afrique, le Canada pourrait soutenir cette cause en donnant l’appui technique et financier aux pays africains pour l’exécution de l’audit des dettes publiques. Le Canada pourrait aussi appuyer les unités d’intelligence financière (Financial Intelligence Units) dans les gouvernements africains en charge de la prévention de la fuite des capitaux, l’évasion fiscale, le blanchiment de l’argent et tous les autres délits financiers. Il est aussi impératif que le Canada continue à assurer une réputation de transparence dans son système bancaire en exigeant des banques qu’elles déclarent systématiquement les transactions suspectes, notamment celles des personnes africaines politiquement exposées (politically exposed persons - PEP). Enfin, le Canada pourrait donner un bon exemple, à l’instar de la Norvège, en procédant lui-même à un audit systématique de ses crédits et dons aux pays africains pour s’assurer que les fonds publics sont effectivement utilisés pour le financement du développement. Ces mesures profiteraient non seulement aux peuples africains, mais elles contribueraient aussi à bâtir une architecture financière internationale plus transparente. Sans de tels changements structurels, l’allègement de la dette africaine au mieux ne peut offrir qu’un palliatif temporaire au problème d’endettement.

Par Léonce Ndikumana

Andrew Glyn Professor of Economics and Director of the African Policy Program

Department of Economics and Political Economy Research Institute (PERI)

University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Léonce Ndikumana présentera des conférences sur ce sujet à Ottawa et à Montréal les 27, 28 et 29 février prochains. L’horaire des conférences est disponible au : Conférences Léonce Ndikumana

February 2012: Message from the President-CEO / Message de la présidente - directrice générale

This blog post is an excerpt from CCIC's February 2012 Flash e-bulletin


Dear CCIC members and friends,

I was away for almost a month during Jan – Feb, and dizzied at the amount of activity that ensued during my absence! Before I left we had been busily working with the provincial and regional councils on polishing and putting out a massive survey intended to capture the experience of CSOs to date with CIDA’s Partnership with Canadians Branch new competitive funding mechanism. A total of 158 organizations, from our collective memberships and beyond, responded to the survey. This represents at least a 25% response rate (accounting for overlaps in memberships), which I understand is very good. We also had more than 50% of the organizations that participated in the Under and Over $2m calls for proposals complete the survey, making it a significant sample of those most affected by the calls-for-proposals mechanism.

So, while I was away, we had a team of two consultants pouring over the vast results of the survey, doing as fine an analysis as possible of the outcomes and the impacts of this new mechanism. And the combined CCIC and ICN (Inter-Council Network of Provincial/Regional Councils for International Cooperation) team reviewing and commenting on several drafts of the survey report and recommendations. As I write these lines, the report is in the last stages of being edited and translated for dissemination. The conclusions and recommendations are numerous and the challenges it spells out for our sector are important. We plan to share it widely amongst respondents, decision makers, the media and the public as of next week and get to work with all of you over the coming months on building our resilience in these challenging times.

We will use our newly created website section, CIDA Partnership with Canadians Branch, to post this report online. If you have not already done so, please check out this new section of our site which is intended to make it easy for our members and other users to easily locate information related to all PWCB things!

On a related development, the team has been working hard to complete the member-only section of our website. Over the month of March all CCIC member organizations (through your ED) will receive an e-mail that provides instructions on how to access the member-only section as well as your unique password. In this section - which will include a board-only section as well as sections for specific working groups and other - we will post all kinds of information that is useful for members but not necessarily for the general public, and also information of a sensitive nature when required. This section will be the place for members to also share their own information with other members in a variety of ways. So, dear members, keep a close eye on your inboxes for the e-mail that will provide you the key to this great new CCIC resource!

And while I was away, there was (and continues to be) a flurry of news items around the issue of NGOs, the mining sector and CIDA. That kept me coming back to my screen in between the packing up of our house in India and my step-daughter’s wedding…..! Since I landed, I have been in touch with many of you to discuss this issue, and to craft the ways in which CCIC can work with the different actors in our sector, who are directly implicated in this important debate, to jointly map out and discuss the risks and challenges associated with these initiatives and more broadly with the new role that the private sector is set to play in aid and development. The latter will no doubt be a central theme of our work over the coming months at CCIC, and we hope to see a broad involvement of our membership in a dialogue on this crucial issue.

An important step in my family’s move to Canada has been completed successfully during my trip to India, and I am now that much more here and very much looking forward to our collective work over the coming months!

In solidarity,

Julia


                                                                                                                                                                  

Chers membres et amis du CCCI,

J’ai été absente presqu’un mois en janvier-février, et je suis étourdie par tout ce qui s’est passé Durant mon absence! Avant que je ne parte, nous avions travaillé fort avec les conseils régionaux et provinciaux de coopération internationale afin de finaliser et de distribuer un long sondage portant  sur l’expérience des OSC à ce jour avec le nouveau processus de financement compétitif mis de l’avant par la Direction des partenariats avec les Canadiens. 158 organisations, issues de notre membership collectif et d’autres, ont répondu au sondage. Cela représente un taux de réponse d’au moins 25% (en tenant compte des organisations membres de deux conseils), ce qui est très bon. Egalement, plus de 50% des organisations qui ont participé aux appels de propositions pour des projets de moins et de plus de 2 millions % ont complété le sondage, ce qui représente un échantillonnage significatif des organisations touchées par les appels d’offres.

Donc, pendant que j’étais en voyage, une équipe de deux consultants a mis ensemble les nombreuses réponses du sondage et a fait une analyse aussi pointue que possible des résultats et des impacts de ce nouveau mécanisme. Les équipes du CCCI et du RCC (Réseau de coordination des conseils, regroupant  les conseils régionaux et provinciaux de coopération internationale) ont revu et commenté plusieurs versions du rapport sur le sondage et les recommandations. Alors que j’écris ces lignes, le rapport en est aux dernières étapes d’édition et de traduction. Il contient de nombreuses conclusions et recommandations et fait ressortir les défis auxquels notre secteur est confronté. Le rapport sera distribué largement parmi les participants au sondage, les preneurs de décisions, dans les médias et le grand public la semaine prochaine. Nous travaillerons avec vous tous dans les prochains mois afin de consolider notre capacité à rebondir dans ces temps difficiles.

Nous utiliserons une nouvelle section créée sur notre site web, Direction générale des partenariats avec les Canadiens de l’ACDI, pour mettre le rapport en ligne. Si ce n’est déjà fait, allez visiter cette nouvelle section de notre site, dont le but est de regrouper toute l’information relative à la DGPC pour un accès plus facile pour nos membres.

Sur un sujet relié, l’équipe a travaillé fort pour compléter la section reserve aux membres de notre site web. Toutes les organisations membres du CCCI recevront en mars (envoyé au directeur) un courriel avec les instructions sur comment accéder à la section pour les membres ainsi que votre mot de passe personnel. Dans cette section – qui comprendra également une sous-section pour le C.A. et des sous-sections pour les groupes de travail et autres – nous mettrons de l’information utile aux membres mais pas nécessairement d’intérêt public ainsi que de l’information de nature plus délicate, si nécessaire. Cette section permettra également aux membres de partager leurs propres informations de différentes façons. Alors, chers membres, surveillez votre boîte de courriels pour l’information qui vous donnera la clé à cette nouvelle ressource épatante du CCCI!

Pendant mon absence, il y a eu (et il y a encore) de nombreuses publications dans les médias concernant les ONGs, le secteur minier et l’ACDI. Cela me ramenait à mon ordinateur entre la préparation au déménagement en Inde et le mariage de ma belle-fille! Depuis mon retour, j’ai été en contact avec plusieurs d’entre vous pour discuter de ce sujet, et pour explorer des façons pour le CCCI de travailler avec les différents acteurs dans notre secteur qui sont directement impliqués dans ce débat important, afin d’identifier et de discuter des risques et défis associés avec ces initiatives et plus largement, avec le nouveau rôle que le secteur privé est appelé à jouer dans l’aide et le développement. Nul doute que ce dernier point sera un thème central de notre travail dans les prochains mois au CCCI, et nous espérons que nos membres participeront activement au dialogue sur ce sujet d’une grande importance.

Une étape importante du déménagement de ma famille au Canada a été complétée avec succès lors de ce voyage en Inde, et je suis maintenant encore plus ici, motivée par tout ce que nous ferons ensemble dans les prochains mois!

Solidairement,

Julia

Defending Land and Life in Marmato, Colombia: Moral and Legal Challenges (Part 3)

Some of our most interesting meetings are with the staff and executives of Gran Colombia Gold. We meet with them on two occasions: once in Bogotá and once in Marmato. In Bogotá, we meet with CEO María Consuelo Araújo, who served as Colombia’s Foreign Affairs minister from 2006 to 2007. Araújo resigned from cabinet in the midst of a scandal linking several of her family members to paramilitaries, the right-winged armed actors responsible for many of the political killings and human rights violations in Colombia. María Consuelo Araújo’s brother, former senator Alvaro Araújo Castro, was sentenced to 9.5 years of jail for conspiring with illegal paramilitary groups to intimidate voters with violence in the lead up to the 2002 elections. Her cousin Hernando Molina Araújo, former governor of the province of Cesar, was sentenced to 7.5 years of prison for his involvement with paramilitary groups, who allegedly financed his election campaign and threatened his principle opponent. The Araújo family is an excellent example of the connections that too often exist between the state, the corporate sector and illegal armed actors in Colombia.

In Marmato, we meet with Gran Colombia Gold’s environmental manager and its director of sustainability. They strongly emphasize the fact that many small-scale miners in Marmato are operating without titles and are therefore “illegal”. Our conversations with the small scale-miners, however, suggest that the situation is far more complex. In 2001, CIDA-sponsored changes to the Colombian mining code eliminated the differences between small-scale and large-scale mining. This forced artisanal miners and multinationals to compete for titles under the same conditions, despite their different environmental impacts, economic benefits, levels of state protection and tax exemptions. Small-scale miners, who had less knowledge, experience and money than multinationals, were naturally hampered by this process. Many failed to secure the titles they needed to continue working in the mines that had sustained them for generations. Recent estimates suggest that 70% of small-scale miners who applied for titles did not receive them, while 90% of mining areas have been granted to multinationals. There therefore seems to be an important gap between the legal dimension and the moral dimension of this question. One small-scale miner from Marmato sums it up nicely: “We may be now be “illegal”, but we are legitimate. We are doing the same thing that we have been doing for generations. The only thing that has changed is that unjust laws, laws that were designed to benefit multinationals, have been put in place”.

These laws seem all the more unjust when one considers that they not always work both ways. According to the mining code, if a mine is abandoned for more than 6 months, the owner loses the right to the title. As Gran Colombia Gold acquired mines in Marmato, it closed them down to focus its efforts on exploration and the acquisition of further mines. These mines have been sitting empty for months - sometimes years – but the state has not stripped the company of its titles. Nor did it prevent police and company security guards from evicting the small-scale miners when they entered the mines after 6 months, incensed that they were jobless while their former mines – the ones they had lost the legal right to work in - sat empty.

Another legal and moral challenge is the debate surrounding the right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) for afro-Colombian and indigenous peoples in Colombia. This right is is enshrined in the country's constitution, as well as in the ILO’s Convention 169 on the rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (which Colombia has ratified) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (which Colombia supports). More than 50% of Marmato’s population is afro-Colombian and 17% is indigenous. However these groups must be formally organized and self-governed for the right to FPIC to be recognized. The afro-Colombian and indigenous communities in Marmato are not: they live among the rest of the population and are therefore not legally protected by the right to FPIC. I find myself reflecting on the ostensible goal of this right. Presumably, it serves to protect people’s prior right to their lands and resources, and to enhance their ability to control their own development in a context of growing inequality and vulnerability. Why, then, should the people of Marmato – indigenous or not, self-governed or not – not have the right to consent to changes on the land they have lived and worked on for hundreds of years?

The geological situation in Marmato is also complex. Gran Colombia Gold and the Colombian government claim that Marmato’s historical center is susceptible to landslides and that its residents should move for their own safety. It is true that the hillside is crumbling and that there is loose mining debris in many places. The people of Marmato acknowledge that the situation isn’t perfect but think it’s ironic that nobody was concerned about their “safety” until a powerful multinational wanted to move the town to build an open-pit mine. They feel the same way about recent attacks on their environmental record. If the government was so concerned about their environmental practices, they ask, why didn’t it ever say anything or provide them with training and support? Small-scale miners take issue with claims that Gran Colombia Gold, with its technical expertise and sophisticated practices, will do less environmental damage than artisanal miners. They believe that large-scale mining will necessarily have large-scale impacts, especially when analyzed from a sustainability point of view. The proposed open-pit mine project would last 20 years. After this time had elapsed, there would be no gold left for small-scale mining and there would be a large hole in an otherwise pristine landscape. Artisanal miners feel that it would be better, from both an environmental and human sustainability point of view, for them to continue mining at their current pace – something that could sustain them for another 200 years.

Whether they have legal arguments, moral arguments, or both, one thing that the small-scale miners in Marmato do not have is power. At odds with the company and feeling abandoned by their own government, the people of Marmato see international solidarity as a last bastion of hope. They want Canadian investors to learn about, and begin to question, Gran Colombia Gold’s behaviour in Marmato - since companies are first and foremost accountable to their shareholders and likely to be most responsive to this type of pressure. International solidarity through the presence of a delegation succeeded in drawing media attention (see article in La Patria and interviews on LPTV) and allowed small-scale miners to engage in direct dialogue with government officials and company executives (these meetings are usually difficult for them to secure on their own, given the power differentials between them and the upper spheres of society).

So what can we, as interested Canadians, do to support people like the small-scale miners in Marmato – knowing that we are sometimes their best hope? First, we can become more responsible and informed investors and shareholders. Second, we can support urgent action and public awareness campaigns (for more information about these strategies, contact Brittany Lambert). Third, we can analyze these situations within the broader context of Canadian foreign policy, and call for change. For example, Canada and Colombia recently signed a free trade agreement and there is concern that it will protect and promote foreign investment at the expense of many ordinary Colombians. There is no doubt that trade and foreign investment can drive growth in the right circumstances. However, in a country characterized by complex historical relationships between the state, the corporate sector and illegal armed forces, and in which the right to unionize is severely constricted, free trade may have unintended negative consequences. Canada and Colombia have signed a treaty requiring both governments to report annually on the human rights impacts of the free trade agreement. The first reports will be released in May 2012. We, as interested Canadians, must ensure that these reports are not just public relations exercises. We must hold our elected officials accountable for ensuring that negative findings have real consequence, and are not just shelved in a library.

If you are interested in seeing pictures of Marmato and of the delegation, please explore our Flickr album.

This blog post was written by Brittany Lambert, coordinator of CCIC's Americas Policy Group (APG).

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of CCIC, APG or their members.

Defending Land and Life in Marmato, Colombia: Patterns of Division and Violence (Part 2)

It is immediately obvious to me that the people of Marmato have put a huge amount of effort into organizing our agenda. Despite their humble roots, they have managed to bring in an impressive roster of lawyers, social leaders, unionists, researchers and journalists from all over Colombia to meet with us.

Our first activity is a meeting with people from other Colombian communities affected by Gran Colombia Gold. One of these people is a young environmental leader from Arboleda, in the department of Nariño. He explains that his community, once characterized by peace and solidarity, has been embroiled in conflict since Gran Colombia Gold’s arrival in January 2011. Residents who expressed concerns about the mining project have received death threats through anonymous text messages and phone calls. This has polarized the town and driven a deep wedge between those who oppose the project and those who are embracing it by seeking employment with the company.

I ask whether Gran Colombia Gold has created similar divides in Marmato, and am reassured that the social fabric here is still relatively intact. However, many people worry that this won’t last long. Even as an inexperienced outsider, I see signs of social conflict looming around the corner. For example, after one of our meetings, a mine owner approaches me and shows me a contract that Gran Colombia Gold has offered him. The company wants to buy his mine, and commits to employing him and his miners. He asks me if I think he should sign it – he is only semi-literate and is concerned that he might not understand all the small print. He tells me that another mine owner recently signed a similar contract and that the company honoured its commitment to hire him and his workers, but then fired them all two months later. I feel unequipped to offer advice on such an important legal matter and tell him that he should consult a lawyer. He replies that there are no lawyers in Marmato and that people like him are feeling their way through the dark trying to make the right decisions. After he leaves, two other miners approach me. They tell me not to trust the previous man: People like him, they say, are allowing the company to tighten its grip on Marmato by selling their mines for personal gain. I realize that it’s just a matter of time before these tensions reach boiling point here too. Sadly, it’s clear to me that these tension are not caused by people acting in bad faith, but rather by people trying to navigate through complex and scary new realities with very little knowledge or legal guidance.

Violence is another thing that many people feel is likely to increase in Marmato. So far, in comparison to other mining-affected communities, Marmato has been quite peaceful. Other than the murder of the town’s parish priest in September 2011, there has been no real violence in Marmato. However, our encounters with human rights defenders from other parts of Colombia make me realize that this is the exception, not the rule. A miners’ union leader from Segovia, another community affected by Gran Colombia Gold, is accompanied by a personal bodyguard at all times. A young lawyer, who works with mining-affected communities in Antioquia, wears a bullet-proof vest. When Paul Webster, the journalist on our delegation, asks the environmental defender from Nariño if he can quote him in an article, the young man says no - explaining that he fears for his safety. These subtle signs remind me that Colombia is still very much in the midst of an armed conflict - a highly complex one in which political, economic and social forces are intricately linked. As if to confirm the predictions that violence in Marmato will increase, a Colombian journalist who produced a documentary on our delegation's visit to Marmato (see part 1, part 2 and part 3) received a death threat shortly after the film was released.

Our conversations with people from other mining-affected communities in Colombia reveal clear and consistent patterns. Despite the different contexts, their stories of violence and intimidation, especially in relation to foreign extractive companies operating on their land, are eerily similar. These patterns make it very difficult for ordinary Colombians to resist corporate extractive activity. They also highlight the inequalities that exist between North and South, especially between foreign capital from the North and ordinary people from the South. As one young Colombian we met so aptly put it: "imagine if the situation were reversed: if a Colombian mining company went into a Canadian town and forced residents to relocate so that it could create an open-pit mine". He's right, it's difficult to imagine...

This blog post was written by Brittany Lambert, coordinator of CCIC's Americas Policy Group (APG).

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of CCIC, APG or their members.

Defending Land and Life in Marmato, Colombia: A Call for International Solidarity (part 1)

Marmato is a small town nestled in the rolling green hills of Colombia’s coffee growing region. The surrounding area exudes tranquility and natural beauty with its shimmering coffee bushes, idyllic farms and singing birds. Entering the town of Marmato is like stepping back in time. Horses and donkeys carry lumber up the steep cobblestone streets. A painted scribe on one of town’s historical buildings alludes to Marmato’s long history of small-scale gold mining. The town’s rich culture and history explain why, in 1982, Marmato was declared a national heritage site.

In Marmato’s central plaza, residents greet each other with smiles and hugs, and invite each other to sit down for coffee. I am struck by the sense of happiness and community in this small town. Residents are quick to confirm this in conversation. They tell me that Marmato is a peaceful community in which everyone has work and no one goes hungry – things that can’t be taken for granted everywhere in Colombia. Their love for, and pride in, their town is obvious.

Lately, however, there is change in the air in Marmato. Residents are increasingly being pulled away from their friendly reunions in cafés and bars to deal with more serious matters. Marmato lies on a mountain that is believed to contain some of the largest gold reserves in the world – reserves that have recently caught the eye of Canadian mining company Gran Colombia Gold.

For many years, small- and large-scale mining coexisted in Marmato. A legal horizontal division, created in 1954, reserved the lower part of the mountain for large-scale mining and the upper part of the mountain for small-scale artisanal mining. For generations, the small-scale miners operated informally. But in 2001, CIDA-sponsored reforms to the Colombian mining code obliged small-scale miners to formalize their operations and obtain mining titles from the government. This created several problems for the artisanal miners in Marmato. The vast majority of miners were unable to secure titles within the allotted timeframe: Many were unaware that the rules had changed, others lacked the resources and know-how to complete the process, and others applied but were never attended to. Simultaneously, the mining company now known as Gran Colombia Gold was competing for the same titles, often more successfully. It was also pressuring the few small-scale miners who had managed to obtain legal titles to sell them. As a result, many small-scale miners in Marmato have now lost the legal right to work in the mines that have secured their livelihoods for generations.

The company began exploring the feasibility of creating an open-pit mine on the mountain, and determined that the town of Marmato would have to be moved. It began designing plans to relocate Marmateños to El Llano, a community located a few kilometers downhill. Marmato residents mobilized against these plans, arguing that the company had not respected its obligation to obtain free, prior and informed consent from the community. Marmato’s parish priest, José Reinel Restrepo, was a strong voice in defense of the community’s right to remain on its territory. On August 28th 2011, he appeared in a documentary saying that the company “would have to expel him by bullets” to get him to leave Marmato. Two days later, on September 1st 2011, he was shot dead while traveling on his motorcycle on a country road. Investigations have been inconclusive, but many suspect that he was targeted for his opposition to the open pit mining project. In a country where human rights defenders frequently come under attack and where the lines between corporate, state and paramilitary forces are often blurry, this is not implausible.

Concerned by the rising tensions and by their lack of power and recourses, Marmato residents invited the Colombia Support Network, a US-based solidarity organization, to bring a delegation of Canadians and Americans to Marmato in January 2012. The delegates chosen were:

·Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, a highly respected Roman Catholic bishop and peace activist from Detroit.

·John Laun, a lawyer, professor and expert on free trade agreements.

· David Newby, president of the Wisconsin AFL/CIO, the largest federation of unions in the United States.

·Paul Webster, an award winning Canadian journalist who has published in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Lancet, and Reader’s Digest.

·And myself, Brittany Lambert, coordinator of the Americas Policy Group at the Canadian Council for International Cooperation.

The delegation took place from January 14th-22nd 2012 and involved meetings in Marmato, Manizales (the provincial capital), and Bogotá. The goal was to enable delegates to observe the situation in Marmato first-hand and to forge lasting links with the community that would enable follow-up work in their respective countries. It was also hoped that the presence of international delegates would facilitate meetings and dialogue between the small-scale miners and government officials or company executives. Unfortunately, it is often difficult for artisanal miners to secure such meetings on their own, given the power differentials between them and the upper spheres of society.

The next few blog postings will describe the delegation’s activities and findings, and reflect on possible solutions to the problem.

This blog post was written by Brittany Lambert, coordinator of CCIC's Americas Policy Group (APG).

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of CCIC, APG or their members.