Extracting justice? Colombia’s commitment to mining and energy as a foundation for peace

Abstract

In this article critical consideration is given to the idea that natural resource extraction can pay for peace and justice. The Colombia government claims that the mining and energy sector represents a driver for economic growth and a key source of the financing needed in a post-conflict period following the forthcoming signing of peace accords. Recent research suggests this argument is severely flawed. Legal and socio-economic dynamics indicate that the encouragement of the extractive sector does not represent a route to justice, but rather an increase in insecurities and a new phase of human rights violations in the country.

Keywords:

• Colombia
• post-conflict
• peace
• mining
• extraction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

John-Andrew McNeish is Professor of International Environment and Development Studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU).

Notes

1. Colombian National Development Plan, https://www.dnp.gov.co/Plan-Nacional-de-Desarrollo/PND-2010-2014/Paginas/Plan-Nacional-De-2010-2014.aspx

2. Extracting Justice Project, http://www.nmbu.no/en/aboutnmbu/faculties/samvit/departments/noragric/research/clusters/rapid/projects-and-assignments/extracting-justice

3. Micheal Ross, The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013).

4. Terry Lynn Karl, The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro States (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).

5. Over five million people. See: UNHCR, ‘Worldwide Displacement Hits All-time High as War and Persecution Increase’, 18 June 2015, http://www.unhcr.org/558193896.html

6. See P. Collier and A. Hoeffler, ‘Aid, Policy and Growth in Post-War Countries', European Economic Review 48 (2004): 1125–45; Humphrey Macartan, Jeffrey Sachs, and Joseph Stiglitz, Escaping the Resource Curse (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007).

7. See Phillipe Le Billon, ‘The Political Ecology of War: Natural Resources and Armed Conflicts', Political Geography 20 (2001): 561–84; John-Andrew McNeish and Owen Logan, eds, Flammable Societies: Studies on the Socio-Economics of Oil and Gas (London: Pluto Press, 2012); Timothy Mitchell, Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil (New York: Verso Books, 2011); Hannah Appel, Arthur Mason, and Micheal Watts, Subterranean Estates: Life Worlds of Oil and Gas (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2015).

8. FARC announced the cessation of all attacks on 9 February 2015. The ceasefire was nonetheless broken over several weeks in the spring of the same year.

9. CERAC Monthly Report on the De-escalation of the Armed Internal Conflict in Colombia, http://blog.cerac.org.co/segundo-reporte-de-monitoreo-mensual-de-medidas-de-desescalamiento-del-conflicto-armado-interno-en-colombia

10. ‘Ex-president Uribe Wages One-man Twitter War against Colombia Peace Deal’, Washington Post, 25 September 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/25/ex-president-uribe-wages-one-man-twitter-war-against-colombia-peace-deal/

11. ‘¿Es suficiente el cese al fuego bilateral para lograr la paz en Colombia?’ Telesur, 29 October 2015, http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Con-el-cese-al-fuego-bilateral-se-logra-la-paz-en-Colombia-20151028-0044.html

12. Dejusticia, http://www.dejusticia.org/-!/index

13. César Rodríguez Garavito, ‘¿Paz territorial sin paz ambiental?’ El Espectador 2 December 2015, http://elespectador.com/print/543784

14. Ibid.

15. Fabrizio Hoschield, Consideraciones Ambientales Para la Construcción de Paz: Territorial Estable, Duradera y Sostenible en Colombia (Bogota: PNUD, 2014).

16. Ted Dunning and Leslie Wirpsa, ‘Oil and the Political Economy of Conflict in Colombia and Beyond: A Linkages Approach’, Geopolitics 9, no. 1 (2004): 88–108; Leonardo Gonzalez Parafán, ed., Impacto de la Minera de Hecho en Colombia (Colombia: Punto de Encuentro, 2013); Francisco Ramirez Cueller and Aviva Chomsky, The Profits of Extermination: Big Mining in Colombia (Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2005).

17. Angelika Rettberg, ‘Gold, Oil and the Lure of Violence: The Private Sector and Post-conflict Risks', NOREF Report Series (2015).

18. CODHES, ‘Minería y palmicultura, nuevas causas de desplazamiento en Colombia’, Pacificocolombia.org, 22 February 2011, http://www.pacificocolombia.org/novedades/codhes-mineria-y-palmicultura-nuevas-causas-de-desplazamiento-en-colombia/382

19. 2015 UNHCR Country Operations Profile – Colombia, http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e492ad6.html

20. COHDES Bulletin Number 79, March 2012, http://www.acnur.org/t3/uploads/media/CODHES_Informa_79_Desplazamiento_creciente_y_crisis_humanitaria_invisibilizada_Marzo_2012.pdf?view=1

21. Indepaz, ‘Impacto de la minería de hecho en Colombia’, Bogota, noviembre de 2012, 12.

22. Daniel Tubb, Gold in the Chocó (Unpublished PhD Thesis, Carleton University, Canada, 2014).

23. Raul Zabechi, ‘Mining and Post-conflict in Colombia’, Americas Program, 3 July 2014, http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/12465

24. Adam Isachson, ‘A Bumpy Ride Ahead: Civil Military Relation Challenges Awaiting Post-Conflict Colombia’ (Unpublished paper presented at LASA 2014).

25. On rural reform, demobilisation and political participation of ex-combatants, combatting the illicit drug trade, and the compensation of victims.

26. OPALC, ‘La Tierra: Desarrollo Agrario y el Sector Extractivo’, http://www.sciencespo.fr/opalc/sites/sciencespo.fr.opalc/files/Incentivoseconómicos.pdf

27. The other drivers included agriculture, housing, innovation and infrastructure. See Colombian National Development Plan 2010–2014, https://colaboracion.dnp.gov.co/CDT/PND/PND2010-2014TomoICD.pdf

28. Juan Manuel Santos, Report to the Congress 2014, http://wsp.presidencia.gov.co/Publicaciones/Documents/InformePresidente2014.pdf

29. ‘Financing Peace: The Colombian Economy after the FARC’, Global Risk Insights, 12 October 2015, http://globalriskinsights.com/2015/10/financing-peace-the-colombian-economy-after-the-farc/

30. ‘Colombia Seeks Dividend from the Wealthiest’, Financial Times, 17 September 2014, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/56440c30-3d29-11e4-a2ab-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?siteedition=intl&_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F56440c30-3d29-11e4-a2ab-00144feabdc0.html%3Fsiteedition=intl&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fglobalriski

31. Ibid.

32. Reserves have not been growing at anything like the speed of production. Colombia currently has just seven years of proven reserves. In 2014, the government ran a 2.1% deficit (a gap of some US$5.1 billion), thus experiencing a ‘twin-deficit’ from its fiscal and trade balances. Expectations of a rise in US interest rates and plunging commodity prices (coffee by 31.2%, coal 32.6%, nickel 43% and gold by 16.2%) prompted a drastic devaluation of Colombia's currency by nearly 60% over the year 2015–2016.

33. ‘Costo-Beneficio del decreto de las licencias express', La Republica, 11 February 2015, http://www.larepublica.co/costo-beneficio-del-decreto-de-las-licencias-express_218816

34. Ibid.

35. Colombia National Constitution 1991, https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Colombia_2005.pdf

36. According to the latest national census (2005) 3.4% of the Colombian population is indigenous, and 10.4% is of afro-descendent background.

37. The Right of Indigenous Peoples to Prior Consultation: The Situation in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, Oxfam Report, 11 April 2011, http://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/research-publications/the-right-of-indigenous-peoples-to-prior-consultation-the-situation-in-bolivia-colombia-ecuador-and-peru/

38. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, Mr James Anaya. The Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Colombia: Follow-up to the Recommendations Made by the Previous Special Rapporteur, 25 May 2010, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/15session/A.HRC.15.37.Add.3_en.pdf

39. Diana Maria Ocampo and Sebastian Agudelo, ‘Case Study: Colombia’, Americas Quarterly, Special Edition Consulta Previa and Investment (Spring 2014), http://americasquarterly.org/content/consulta-previa-and-investment

40. Reprinted in Resumen, Diálogos interculturales sobre minería en Colombia. Propuestas desde el Resguerdo Indígena Cañamomo Lomapreita y el Palenque Alto Cauca, 16–17 April 2015, Santender de Quilichao, Cauca, Forest Peoples Programme/PCN/Embassy of Switzerland in Colombia.

41. Cesar Rodriguez Gavarito, El Espectador, 29 April 2013, http://www.elespectador.com/opinion/locomotora-sin-rieles

42. Deborah Poole, ‘The Minga of Resistance: Policy-Making from Below’, NACLA (2008), https://nacla.org/news/minga-resistance-policy-making-below

43.  ‘Fogonazo y memoria del Paro’, Desde Abajo, 23 September 2013, http://www.desdeabajo.info/ediciones/item/22777-fogonazo-y-memoria-del-paro.html

44. Anglo Gold Ashanti (AGA) is the third-largest gold-mining multinational in the world, with a presence in various countries including South Africa, Tanzania, Ghana, Congo and Colombia.

45. Anglo Gold Ashanti Annual Report 2010, http://www.anglogoldashanti.com/en/Media/Reports/AnnualReports/AGA-annual-review-2010.pdf

46. Anglo Gold Ashanti Annual Report 2012, http://www.anglogoldashanti.com/en/Media/Reports/AnnualReports/AGA-mineral-resource-and-ore-reserve-report-2012.pdf

47. For example, ‘Anglo Gold Ashanti Faces Charges for Polluting South Africa's Vaal River’, Mining.com, 2 September 2013, http://www.mining.com/anglogold-ashanti-faces-charges-for-polluting-south-africas-vaal-river-66700/

48. James Kneen, ‘Earth: What is Mining All About? The Up and Down Sides' (Part of the Ottawa University Institute of Environment 2006–07 Lecture Series ‘Elemental Environmentalism: Water, Air, Fire and Earth’, 28 February 2007), http://miningwatch.ca/sites/default/files/Mining_Unsustainable_0.pdf

49. Stuart Kirsch, Mining Capitalism: The Relationship between Corporations and their Critics (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2014).

50. Cepeda Castro is well-known in Colombia as a representative for the Movement of Victims of the Crimes of the State (MOVICE) and for his public accusation of the existence of clear connections between ex-President Uribe and the human rights abuses of paramilitary organisations.

51. The text of the ballot read: ‘Do you agree, as a resident of Piedras, Tolima that in our jurisdiction, the following activities are carried out: exploration, exploitation, treatment, transformation, transportation, washing of materials that originate from large scale gold mining; or that materials that are harmful to health and the environment are stored or used, specifically cyanide and/or any other substances or hazardous materials associated with these activities; furthermore, that surface and ground water is used from our town in such operations or any other similar operations that may affect and/or limit the supply of potable water for human consumption, and for agriculture, the traditional productive vocation of our municipality?’

52. ‘Se puede ganar en primera vuelta': Santos, El Espectador, 21 December 2013, http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/se-puede-ganar-primera-vuelta-santos-articulo-465498

53. Decision C-123/201, Constitutional Court, Auto 11001032600020130009100 (47693), Feb. 26/14, C.P. Jaime Orlando Santofimio, Council of State.

54. El Tiempo, ‘Concejo de Cajamarca dice no a la consulta popular minera', http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/otras-ciudades/consulta-popular-minera-en-cajamarca/15247615 (accessed 15 April 2015).

55. ‘El regalo minero de Santos a los alcaldes terminó siendo de arena’, La Silla Vacia 13 March 2015, http://lasillavacia.com/historia/el-regalo-minero-de-santos-los-alcaldes-termino-siendo-de-arena-49743

56. ‘End Anti-Trade Union Violence in Colombia’, Justice for Colombia, http://www.justiceforcolombia.org/campaigns/union-rights/

57. ‘Colombia One of the Terrible Ten Worst Countries for Workers Rights', Stronger Unions, 16 June 2015, http://strongerunions.org/2015/06/16/colombia-one-of-the-terrible-ten-worst-countries-for-workers-rights-3/

58. Adam Roston, ‘It's the Real Thing, Murder. US Employers Like Coca-Cola Are Implicated in Colombia's Brutality’, The Nation, 23 August 2001, http://www.thenation.com/article/its-real-thing-murder/

59. My translation: Desde 1997, la Oficina viene haciendo un seguimiento a los ataques y agresiones que afectan a los defensores de derechos humanos. En un trabajo conjunto entre la Fiscalía General de la Nación, las organizaciones de la sociedad civil y la Oficina, se logró consolidar un listado de 729 homicidios de defensores de derechos humanos, ocurridos entre 1994 y 2015, lo que indica un promedio anual de 33 asesinatos. Casi todos estos hechos permanecen en la impunidad. En los nueve primeros meses del año, la Oficina registró 30 homicidios y 20 tentativas de homicidio contra defensores de derechos humanos, lo que demuestra la persistencia de un entorno inseguro y hostil para el ejercicio de su labor. Con estos casos recientes, este año se ha superado el promedio de homicidios de defensores de derechos humanos que se venía registrando en los últimos 20 años.

60. ‘Environmentalist Opposed to Central Colombia Mining Project Assassinated’, Colombia Reports, 5 November 2013, http://colombiareports.com/farmers-leader-environmental-acitivist-assassinated-near-colombian-capital-bogota/

61. ‘Ya son tres lideres campesinos asesinados en una semana: presumen motivos politicos', Colombiainforma.info, 20 November 2015, http://colombiainforma.info/mov-sociales/pueblos/2899-ya-son-tres-los-lideres-campesinos-asesinados-en-una-semana-presumen-motivos-politicos

62. ‘Report: Latin America Most Dangerous Region for Land Activists', Aljazeera, 20 April 2015, http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/20/report-latin-america-most-dangerous-for-land-activists.html

63. William Reno, ‘Clandestine Economies, Violence and States in Africa’, Journal of International Affairs 53, no. 2 (2000).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Norwegian Research Council [Lat-Am 236912].