A/HRC/29/25 III. Rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the context of natural resource exploitation A. Background 6. The global economy relies heavily on the availability and exploitation of natural resources.3 With the industrialization of emerging economies and the ever-increasing needs of older market-economy countries, the demand for natural resources has increased dramatically. With that demand has come a plethora of concerns relating to the sustainability of economic growth and its impact on the climate, the environment and, more generally, on human rights. 7. Increased demand for resources has resulted in the opening up of more areas for exploration and exploitation, especially in populated areas, leading to conflict between competing interests. By some accounts, between 93 and 99 per cent of 73,000 mining, logging, agriculture, oil and gas concessions in eight tropical forested countries were inhabited.4 The same sources indicate that, for example, up to 40 per cent of the territory of Peru has been handed over by the Government to private for-profit entities to exploit natural resources and that in Liberia and in Indonesia 35 and 30 per cent, respectively, of the land is in the hands of the private sector for exploitation operations. The existence of widespread social conflict associated with natural resource exploitation is therefore not surprising. For example, in Peru, the Ombudsman’s Office documented 211 social conflicts in the month of February 2015, 66 per cent of which were related to natural resource exploitation.5 In Colombia, the Ombudsman’s Office participated in 218 dialogues between mining companies, protestors and the Government. 6 8. Moreover, many resource-rich countries suffer from low levels of development, particularly human development, endemic corruption and economic and political instability — the “resource curse”. This, despite a widely shared understanding that natural resources are managed by Governments on behalf of their citizens; an understanding which many countries enshrine in law. The Constitution of Burkina Faso, for example, provides that citizens may petition individually or collectively against acts that harm the environment or the interests of communities.7 A large proportion of the world’s poor lives in resource-rich 3 4 5 6 7 For purposes of the present report, the Special Rapporteur takes a broad view of “natural resources”, taking the term to encompass a wide range of materials, including land, water, soil, air, coal, oil, gas, other mineral and precious metal deposits, flora and fauna, forests and timber. Similarly, “exploitation” is understood to encompass a variety of activities, including extractive processes (mining, fishing, logging, etc.) and construction of mega-projects (dams, nuclear plants, hydroelectric facilities, wind farms, land reclamation large-scale farming), that are intended to make use of natural resources, particularly for large-scale commercial gain. The Special Rapporteur also recognizes that conservation activities carried out with an accompanying commercial benefit, such as game parks and reserves, forests preserved to offset carbon emissions and the like, often raise the same concerns related to the exercise of peaceful assembly and association rights. Andrea Alforte and others, “Communities as Counterparties: Preliminary Review of Concessions and Conflict in Emerging and Frontier Market Concessions” (Rights and Resources Initiative, 2014). Available from www.rightsandresources.org/wp-content/uploads/Communities-as-CounterpartiesFINAL_Oct-21.pdf. Defensoría del Pueblo (Ombudsman’s Office), press note 041/OCII/DP/2015, 5 March 2015. Available from www.defensoria.gob.pe/portal-noticias.php?n=13353 (accessed 10 March 2015). Defensoría del Pueblo (Ombudsman’s Office) Colombia, Vigésimo Primer Informe del Defensor del Pueblo de Colombia al Congreso de la República (Bogotá, Defensoría del Pueblo, 2013), p. 35. Response to questionnaire; Constitution of Burkina Faso, art. 30. 5