NGO WORK

Justice Denied: East African Court of Justice Grants Tanzanian Government Impunity to Trample Human Rights of the Maasai

Published

2 years ago

October 3, 2022

In a shocking blow to Indigenous land rights, the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has dismissed a case (Reference No. 10 of 2017) brought against the Tanzanian government by four Maasai villages who sought recourse for violent evictions and burning of homes in Loliondo by the government in 2017.

The case was brought after violent government-led evictions of Maasai villagers in Loliondo — which included burning of their homes, arbitrary arrest, and confiscating livestock — in August 2017, as well as the ongoing harassment and arrest of villagers involved in the case by the Tanzanian police. Reports(link is external) allege that in addition to the numerous arrests and injuries associated with the evictions, 5,800 homes were damaged leaving 20,000 Maasai homeless. The four villages — Ololosokwan, Oloirien, Kirtalo, and Arash — named in the case are legally registered owners of their land.

The government claimed the evictions were done with “dignity” and that the villages were illegally located within Serengeti National Park. Before the ruling, the government also insisted that the EACJ did not have jurisdiction to hear the case.

“The failure of the East African Court of Justice to hold the Tanzanian government accountable for blatantly abusing human rights of the Maasai in Loliondo is a travesty for all Indigenous communities on the continent,” said Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute Executive Director, who has warned for years about the unfolding disaster. A Maasai community leader somberly remarked, “Again it seems the government is happy for injustices done to our people… We have been very much disappointed.”

The court determined that the witnesses failed to prove the evictions took place outside Serengeti National Park’s borders, and that testimonies about violent evictions relied on “hearsay.” No compensation was granted to the villages.

During the five-year legal battle, witnesses for the impacted villages faced intimidation and threats. One expert surveyor witness suddenly abandoned the case after sustained harassment from the government. The villages brought in another surveyor from Kenya who submitted an affidavit and report of satellite imagery showing the burned bomas were outside the park’s borders. While the court did not comment on the validity of the findings, it determined he failed to abide by the necessary statutory requirements to carry out survey work in Tanzania as a non-citizen. “That the ruling focuses on this technicality instead of the findings of the survey, indicates that the court failed in its duties and succumbed to pressure from the Tanzanian government,” said Mittal.

On September 25, 2018, the Court granted an injunction in favor of the communities, prohibiting the Tanzanian government from evicting the villagers, seizing their livestock, destroying property, or engaging in harassment against Maasai communities living in the four villages. The ruling was initially expected in June 2022, but much to the disappointment of the Maasai communities, the court postponed the decision several times.

The injunction remained in effect until the ruling could be heard. The Tanzanian government, however, blatantly ignored the court orders during the violent demarcation of 1,500 km2 of land in Loliondo on June 8, 2022 – that led to dozens of serious injuries, widespread arrests, and displacement of thousands of Maasai. Since the violent crackdown, thousands have been deprived of vital grazing area that is now off limits in the newly classified “Pololeti Game Controlled Area.” The government faced global condemnation for their actions.

“Instead of ensuring rule of law, the East African Court of Justice has sent a clear signal to governments in the region that they can trample on Indigenous rights in favor of foreign investors without consequence,” Mittal added. The four villages are still deciding if they will appeal the court’s ruling.

The Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources has indicated the area will become a game reserve, triggering additional evictions of Maasai living in legally registered villages. Given actions of the government during the court injunction, communities are rightfully fearful of additional human rights abuses.

The Oakland Institute’s research has exposed internationally the ongoing plight and human rights violations of the Maasai villagers as their land rights are denied in the name of conservation and to benefit safari companies, such as Boston-based Thomson Safaris and the UAE-based Otterlo Business Company, which runs hunting excursions for the Emirati royal family.

The court’s failure to provide justice makes it imperative that the international community exhausts every possible avenue to hold the Tanzanian government accountable.

Source: oaklandinstitute.org

NGO WORK

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil explained: a primer for community organisations

Published

15 mins ago

April 19, 2024

witnessradio.org

Palm oil is the world’s most common vegetable oil and an essential, cheap raw material for the unhealthy processed foods sold by multinational food companies. Palm oil production has nearly doubled over the past decade, mostly through the expansion of large-scale monoculture plantations, owned by corporations. These oil palm plantations are associated with deforestation, habitat destruction, greenhouse gas emissions and other problems such as water pollution. Oil palm plantation companies have been accused of theft of land from indigenous and other communities, criminalisation of human rights defenders and labour and human rights abuses.

Twenty years ago, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was set up to address these concerns by bringing together ‘stakeholders’ from various parts of the industry, as well as environmental and social organisations. Its founders said this would prevent the destruction of valuable forests and ensure respect for the rights of plantation workers, smallholder farmers and indigenous people. But experience with the RSPO over the past two decades shows that it has failed to live up to its objectives. It has arguably become more of an industry ‘front’ organisation, principally concerned with helping to protect companies, market palm oil and expand the model of industrial monocultures, rather than a means of ensuring higher standards.

Worse, there is much confusion and a lack of awareness about what the RSPO is and what it means for local communities, workers and even the companies occupying their lands. Grassroots organisations and international allies, including GRAIN, recently agreed to develop information and education tools to help workers and communities better understand the RSPO. This primer, “The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil explained”, is one such tool – a collective document, published by GRAIN but produced with inputs from many organisations.

Download “The Roundtable on sustainable Palm Oil explained”

Source: Grain

NGO WORK

US Luxury Safari Operator Tightens Stranglehold Over Maasai Land in Tanzania

Published

1 day ago

April 18, 2024

witnessradio.org

Oakland, CA – Boston-based Thomson Safaris is exploiting the Tanzanian government’s brutal repression of land defenders to legitimize control over Maasai land in the Loliondo Division of the Ngorongoro District. In June 2022, the government carried out land demarcation to create a Game Reserve in Loliondo, which saw security forces fire live ammunition on the Maasai, severely wounding dozens and displacing thousands. In the immediate aftermath of these events, Thomson Safaris carried out a resurvey of a long-contested land claim they have in the same area. Communities say they were excluded from the resurvey process and alleged in a November 2023 court filing that they have since suffered abuse by the company’s agents enforcing the new boundaries.

“Over the past two years, the Tanzanian government has repeatedly shown it will aid and abet foreign corporations operating luxury safaris at the expense of the Maasai communities who have stewarded these lands for generations. While labeling itself as a sustainable tourism operator, the American firm is getting away with capitalizing on this repression,” said Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute.

Capitalizing on Chaos: Thomson Safaris Tightens Its Stranglehold Over Indigenous Lands in Tanzania exposes how in the aftermath of the resurvey, the strict enforcement of the new boundaries has aggravated daily hardships for the villagers who report incidents of violence – allegedly committed by Thomson Safaris’ guides – against pastoralists and their children. One villager cited in the report alleges, “My boy was taking care of the livestock when he was caught by a Thomson Safaris’ guide and beaten for no reason. He suffered injuries on his body…Our rights have been violated by an intruder in our ancestors’ land.”

As documented in the Oakland Institute’s 2018 report, Losing the Serengeti, since 2006, the Mondorosi, Sukenya, and Soitsambu villages have been ensnared in a prolonged struggle for the return of their lands against the company. Local communities seek to reclaim 10,000 acres of land in what is known to them as the Sukenya farm, originally transferred forty years ago without their Free, Prior, and Informed Consent and vital to their pastoral livelihoods. For over a decade, communities have pursued legal action for the full return of their land in the High Court of Tanzania and Court of Appeal, but to no avail.

On June 8, 2022, the Tanzanian government initiated the illegal demarcation of over 370,000 acres of land in Loliondo Division to create a Game Reserve. The exercise led to widespread violence by state security forces, with dozens of community leaders and villagers arbitrarily arrested while others were forced into hiding. According to local communities, Thomson Safaris took advantage of this increasing state violence against the Maasai and the ensuing chaos to consolidate its claim to the land.

The strict enforcement of the Sukenya farm’s boundaries has reportedly forced villagers to walk hours to access essential medical services and schools. Communities have also lost access to prime grazing land, which has been particularly catastrophic in the context of the drought that ravaged the Horn of Africa between 2020 and 2023. Thomson Safaris is now allegedly lobbying the Tanzanian government to change the land use in the surrounding area exclusively for tourism – a move that would further prohibit Maasai pastoralists’ livestock from accessing vital water and grazing land.

In response to an inquiry by the Oakland Institute, Thomson Safaris’ attorneys in Tanzania denied the allegations about the resurvey and its impact on villagers. While they called the claims “baseless,” the firm failed to provide any evidence that the resurvey took place with full community participation. Despite the ongoing land dispute and allegations of violence made in court by villagers, the company remains the preferred Tanzania operator for high-profile universities, museums, and conservation groups.

Alongside Capitalizing on Chaos, the Institute released Pulling Back the Curtain: How the US Drives Tanzania’s War on the Indigenous. The brief reveals how Tanzania’s largest bilateral donor has been instrumental in designing the country’s aggressive strategy to expand the tourism industry at the expense of Indigenous communities. It details how the US is behind a number of policy changes and measures that have led to the expansion of so-called protected areas and favored private operators, including fiscal measures to their benefit. USAID has for instance prepared development plans for Ruaha National Park – currently being implemented by the World Bank – that will result in the eviction of tens of thousands of people. It has also enabled the creation of new Game Reserves, which will seize over a million hectares of Maasai land and evict thousands of people.

“The fingerprints of the US government are all over the harmful policies and projects to expand protected areas, rendering it complicit in the forced evictions of the Maasai and other local communities across the country. It has turned a blind eye to the egregious human rights abuses of the government so that the rich Americans can keep going on upscale safaris and operators like Thomson Safaris keep raking in massive profits,” concluded Mittal.

Indigenous communities are not enduring hardships solely because of the wrongdoings of the Tanzanian government. The US government and private operators like Thomson Safaris all bear their share of responsibility and must be held accountable for it.

Source: oaklandinstitute.org

NGO WORK

100 years of Total Energies – a dark legacy

Published

2 weeks ago

April 6, 2024

witnessradio.org

On 28 March 2024, the French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies celebrated its 100-year anniversary. In a happy coincidence, Total’s centennial party was spoiled by the news that their intimidatory legal action against Greenpeace France was unsuccessful!

The ruling was a major victory for freedom of expression and the fight against polluting companies like Total – especially since they are hellbent on expanding climate-wrecking operations despite a worsening climate crisis. Behind its facade as a “French industrial flagship” lies a grim history of environmental devastation and links to human rights abuses.

TotalEnergies’ history of lies

Researchers have found that Total’s awareness that its products could lead to catastrophic global warming dates to the early 1970s. However, according to historians, Total chose to implement a strategy of misinformation and a “factory of doubt” for many years, in order to delay and distract political action to limit oil and gas extraction.

Today, Total remains one of the most polluting companies on the planet. Despite its pledge to be net zero by 2050, fossil fuels still account for 98% of its energy production – and it recently announced plans to increase its fossil fuel production over the next 5 years.

TotalEnergies’ history linked to human rights abusers

Total proudly displays its ‘ethical charter’, but it has not hesitated to develop projects in countries where human rights are constantly violated.

In Burma, in the early 1990s, Total developed the Yadana gas project and became a major financial contributor to the ruling military regime, which was responsible for brutal human rights violations. It took two decades of pressure from civil society for Total to withdraw from the country.

More recently, Total’s giant EACOP pipeline and the Tilenga project has resulted in over 118,000 people being forced from their land in Uganda and Tanzania, according to grassroots organisations. Ugandan student activists were reportedly jailed by their government after voicing concerns about the project.

In 2022, Total was reportedly the only Western oil company that did not declare its withdrawal from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. Working with Russian partners, Total extracts a gas condensate that has allegedly been processed into fuel for Russian fighter planes.

TotalEnergies’ history of toxic extraction

In Yemen, Total has reportedly been operating oil wells on the Messila field since the 1990s. Here, Total reportedly buried millions of litres of toxic water, which contaminated the only local freshwater source. The health of the population has reportedly been negatively affected, cancer cases have increased and farmers have been left destitute.

In Argentina, the Vaca Muerta shale gas extraction project is a real carbon bomb that could emit nearly 15 billion tonnes of CO₂e, according to Greenpeace France estimates. It is located on the lands of the Mapuche Indigenous populations, who say they have been displaced and the region is suffering from a huge amount of pollution.

“The oil companies entered our land without our permission … We had goats born without jaws, without mouths [because of pollution].”— an elder Campo Maripe to the Guardian

TotalEnergies’ history of environmental disasters

Like its competitors, Total has been involved in a number of tragic events that it would like to forget:

On December 12, 1999, the MV Erika, an oil tanker chartered by Total, sank off the coast of Northern France.⁣⁣ The vessel spilled 20,000 tons of heavy fuel oil across 400 km of coastline, causing major environmental damage. Over 200,000 birds were killed. ⁣

⁣Total denied responsibility, but was found guilty and convicted of “gross negligence” by French courts.

The MV Erika, an oil tanker chartered by Total, that sank off the coast of Northern France, spilling 20,000 tons of heavy fuel oil across 400 km of coastline in 1990. — This aerial file photo taken on December 13, 1999 shows the stern of the Maltese registered oil tanker Erika as it sinks off the French coast near Brest western France.

A few years later, 31 people were killed and more than 2,500 injured, as 400 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in a factory owned by a subsidiary of Total in Toulouse, France.⁣

It was the worst industrial disaster to hit the country in fifty years. Here too, Total denied responsibility, and it took an 18-year trial for Total’s subsidiary to finally be convicted.

We must put an end to the reign of oil and gas!

Despite repeated warnings from scientists, Total continues to expand its fossil fuel operations. It’s time to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the loss and damage they have caused to humans, nature and the climate. It’s time to stop all new coal, gas and oil projects and phase out these dirty fuels forever. It’s time for Total and the entire fossil fuel industry to stop drilling, and start paying.

Original Source: Green Peace