Global call for moratorium on BP's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline

Press release 5th June 2003

Environment, rights groups in 29 countries lobby World Bank and Governments

Over 70 environment and human rights groups from 29 countries, today called for an immediate moratorium on a controversial BP oil pipeline, planned to run from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. 72 organisations have written [2] to the major public funders of the pipeline project, arguing that the pipeline would worsen human rights problems along the pipeline route, and that a background of lack of freedom of speech in the region made proper consultation and land compensation impossible.

The call echoes the findings of a recent international fact-finding mission [3] to the Turkish section of the pipeline, which found violations of international standards, and Turkish law, on consultation, compensation and resettlement - as well as human rights problems including detentions, arbitrary arrests and state harassment. The situation is especially bad in the northeast of Turkey, where 40% of the population is Kurdish. The Fact-Finding Mission itself was detained twice by the state Gendarmerie during the course of its research.

Kate Geary, of the Baku Ceyhan Campaign commented, "The persistent and ongoing denial by the Turkish state of Kurdish people's rights makes it impossible for this pipeline to be built in an acceptable way. The responsible thing for BP to do would be to call off the project, at least for as long as this remains the case".

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, led by UK oil giant BP, is designed to carry one million barrels of oil a day through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to the Mediterranean coast, where it would be loaded onto tankers for export to western markets. BP and its partners are expected to request about half of the $3.3 billion cost of the project from public sources, as what BP CEO Lord John Browne has called "free public money". [4]

Tony Juniper, of Friends of the Earth, said, "This pipeline will hit the environment and local people hard, while benefiting only the profits of companies like BP. The fact-finding mission's report makes it clear that it cannot be built to international standards - so there is no justification for governments to fund the project".

Petr Hlobil, of CEE Bankwatch Network, added, "The array of deficiencies in this project, combined with the abysmal human rights situation in the region, mean that a moratorium on the project is now essential. We call on governments and international financial institutions not to consider financing the pipeline in the current climate".

The moratorium call is the latest in a series of problems for BP. Last month, the human rights impact of the pipeline was criticised in a legal report by Amnesty International [5], and in April groups submitted complaints to the governments of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, charging that BP and its partners were violating the "Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises" of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) [6].

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

1: The Baku Ceyhan Campaign is a project of the Ilisu Dam Campaign. See http://www.baku.org.uk

2: The letter is appended below, with all signatories

3: The members of the Fact-Finding Mission included representatives of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, the Corner House, Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale and PLATFORM. The Mission's report is available at http://www.baku.org.uk/ffm_25_4_2003.htm

4: Robert Corzine, "Wisdom of Baku pipeline queried", Financial Times, 4 November 1998, p.4

5: Amnesty International press release, 'Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project puts human rights on the line', 20 May 2003, http://www.amnesty.org.uk/deliver?document=14542

Amnesty's report, 'Human Rights on the Line', argues that "Under the present framework of protocols and agreements that circumscribe the project, mechanisms for protecting human rights are being systematically undermined".

6: Friends of the Earth International press release, 'Groups file claim against BP and pipeline partners in 5 countries', 29 April 2003, http://www.foei.org/media/2003/0429.html

In their 9-page Complaint, the NGOs charged the Consortium with having:

a.. exerted undue influence on the regulatory framework for the project - the Consortium's legal team even boasting that it had "created laws" in Azerbaijan;

b.. sought or accepted exemptions related to social, labor, tax and environmental laws;

c.. pressured the Georgian environment minister to approve the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) despite the minister's protests that the EIA violates Georgian law; and

d.. undermined the host governments' ability to mitigate serious threats to the environment, human health and safety by, among other actions, negotiating agreements that free the pipeline project from any environmental, public health or other laws that the three host countries might adopt in the future.

To:

Mr. James Wolfensohn, President, The World Bank Group, USA

Mr. Philippe Maystadt, President, European Investment Bank, Luxemburg

Mr. Jean Lemierre, President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, United Kingdom

Mr. Philip Merrill, President, Export-Import Bank of the U.S., USA

Peter S. Watson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, USA

Mr Hidehiro Konno, Chairman and CEO, Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), Japan

Baroness Amos, Secretary of State for International Developmen, Department for International Development, United Kingdom

Baroness Symons, Minister for Trade, United Kingdom

Vivian Brown , Chief Executive, Export Credits Guarantee Department, United Kingdom

Herrn Wolfgang Clement, An den Bundesminister für Wirtschaft und Arbeit, Germany

Herrn Joseph Fischer, An den Minister des Auswaertigen, Germany

Herrn Hans Eichel, An den Bundesminister der Finanzen, Germany

Frau Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul , An die Bundesministerin für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung, Germany

Herrn Dr. Janus, Hermes-KreditversicherungsAG, Germany

Hon. Adolfo Urso, Deputy Minister, Foreign Trade Department, Italy

Dr. Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, President, SACE, Italy

Cc:

Mr. Peter Woicke, IFC, International Finance Corporation, USA

Mr. Motomichi Ikawa, MIGA, USA

Boards of Directors of all institutions

Moratorium on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline Project

Dear Sir/Madam,

We write to draw your attention to the attached Report of the Second International Environmental and Human Rights Fact Finding Mission to the Turkish Section of the BTC Project. In the light of its findings, we request your urgent intervention in the form of an immediate Moratorium on the pipeline project.

The Fact Finding Mission (FFM) travelled the length of the Turkish section of the proposed pipeline from Sivas to the Georgian border. Whilst it found that the project developers - the BTC Consortium or BTC Co. - have taken steps which partially remedy a number of concerns previously raised by Non-Governmental Organisations, it nonetheless reports that the project continues to be characterised by violations of international standards on consultation, compensation and resettlement. It also found systemic flaws, arising from the political context in which the pipeline has been planned and would operate, that cannot be addressed by piecemeal policy changes.

Systemically, the FFM found:

• A pattern of human rights abuses in regions through which the pipeline passes, notably in the north-east, where there has been a marked recent rise of detentions, arbitrary arrests, surveillance and harassment by state and military officials;
  
  
• A pervasive atmosphere of repression and lack of freedom of speech in the region which precludes dissent about the BTC project;
  
  
• The strong likelihood that the human rights situation in the region would be worsened by the introduction of the pipeline, particularly due to militarisation via the use of the Gendarmerie (Turkey's military police) as the main security force.
  
  The problems are particularly evident in the north-eastern section of the proposed pipeline route, in Kars and Ardahan provinces, a region whose population is approximately 40% Kurdish. Here the Mission found clear-cut evidence of political repression so systemic as to invalidate the consultation exercises that the project developers have undertaken. Indeed, the FFM was itself detained by the Gendarmerie on two occasions and, due to police harassment and intimidation, was forced to abandon a number of planned visits to villages affected by the pipeline for fear of exposing local villagers to potential human rights abuses by the state security agencies.
  
  The absence of a culture of free expression in the region renders impossible, among others, credible consultation with project-affected people, free and open compensation negotiations and independent monitoring of the project. Moreover, these problems of social context were compounded by an array of specific deficiencies in the BTC project, including:
  
  
• Fundamental flaws in both the design and the implementation of crucial project documents like the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP), including widespread inadequacies in consultation of affected people, appropriate NGOs and social groups;
  
  
• Repeated suggestions that BTC Co. is not carrying out the process of compensation in the manner claimed. These included allegations of systematically paying well below market rates for land; imposing rather than negotiating prices; failing to compensate certain groups of landowners and users; not providing affected people with proper information about their rights; and failing to inform them of the many potential negative impacts of the project.
  
  
• The failure of the project to take sufficient account of the differential impacts of the pipeline on vulnerable groups, including ethnic minorities, women and the poor, or to mitigate those problems appropriately.
  
  
• Apparent conflicts between the provisions of the Resettlement Action Plan and the Turkish Expropriation Law.

The FFM notes that this catalogue of deficiencies puts the BTC project in potential conflict with the Turkish Expropriation Law, and hence also with the Host Government Agreement reached between BTC Co. and the Turkish Government. It also places the project in violation of a number of the World Bank Group's mandatory standards, including OD 4.30 (Involuntary Resettlement), and guidelines, including the IFC Good Practice Manual on Consultation and Disclosure and IFC Handbook on Preparing a Resettlement Action Plan.

The problems reported are of particular concern because BTC Co. has recently written to the Government of Turkey insisting that BOTAS, the state-owned company that is responsible for constructing the pipeline in Turkey, complete the land acquisition process as soon as possible - or risk losing the contract.[1] This pressure forms part of what we see as a wider pattern of BTC Co.'s flouting on multiple counts of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) "Guidelines for Multi-National Enterprises" during the BTC project.[2]

The FFM is also gravely concerned by the human rights implications of the arrangements for policing the pipeline, should it be built. Under the legal agreements reached between the Republic of Turkey and the project developers, the security of the pipeline, which is the sole responsibility of the Turkish state, has been designated to the Gendarmerie, whose record on human rights has been repeatedly criticised by the Council of Europe.[3] In the FFM's view, the prominent role of the Gendarmerie carries a high risk of precipitating human rights abuses, particularly in the north-eastern section of the pipeline route.

Whilst many of the deficiencies identified by the FFM (for example, with regard to levels of compensation) may be remedied by making more funds available and by taking more time to resolve the outstanding violations of international standards and potential conflicts with domestic law, the systemic problems arising from repression and the absence of free expression in the region are not amenable to remedial action by either the project developer or the international financial institutions from which funding for the project is being sought.

In such circumstances, the FFM believes that the adoption of a Moratorium on appraising, financing and building the BTC project constitutes the only legitimate means available to the International Financial Institutions and the project developers for ensuring that human rights violations do not flow from the project and that the project is fully compliant with international standards. The Moratorium should remain in place until there is independent confirmation that concerned parties, in particular those directly affected by the pipeline, are genuinely in a position to express their views on the project without fear of reprisal or intimidation and to negotiate freely over compensation for loss of land and other damages. The FFM also deems it essential that security concerns arising from the poor human rights record of Turkey's security forces be addressed prior to work commencing on the project.

We know that these are issues in which you have a strong interest and that you and your department are committed to ensuring that human rights and other abuses do not flow from this difficult and controversial project and that it conforms to international standards. We would therefore urge you to take immediate action to institute a Moratorium as proposed by the FFM.

Yours faithfully,

Petr Hlobil

CEE Bankwatch Network

AUSTRALIA

Cam Walker, Friends of the Earth

Kate Walsh, Aid/Watch

AZERBAIJAN

Mayis Gulaliyev, Caucasus NGO Confederation

BELARUS

Natasha Petrushkewich, Ecological Initiative "Belaya Rus"

BULGARIA

Anelia Stefanova, For the Earth

Petko Kovatchev, CEIE,

BELGIUM

Emilie Thenard, FERN

Jan Capelle, Projecto Gato

BRAZIL

Elisangela Soldatelli Paim, Amigos de la Tierra

COSTA RICA

Isaac Rojas - Gabriel Rivas, COECOCeiba-FoE Costa Rica

CZECH REPUBLIC

Petr Hlobil, CEE Bankwatch Network

Ales Kutak, Centrum pro Dopravu a Energetiku

Pavel Pribyl, Hnuti Duha

ESTONIA

Peep Mardiste, Friends of the Earth Estonia

FRANCE

Helene Ballande, Amis de la Terre

GEORGIA

Manana Kochladze, Green Alternatives

Merab Barbakadze -Legal Society, Georgia

GERMANY

Regine Richter, Urgewald e.V.

Heike Drillisch, WEED

Thomas Tennhardt, NABU (Naturschutzbun Deutschland e.V)

Jurgen Maier, German NGO Forum Environment and Development

Bettina Dannheim, ROBIN WOOD

Nika Greger, Deutscher Naturschutzring (DNR)

Cornelia Heydereich, Germanwatch

Ulrich Muller, Food First Information und Aktionnetzwerk (FIAN)

Jan Kowalzig, Bund fur Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND)

HUNGARY

Eniko Hajosi, ETK

Gabor Takasz, Energy Club

INDONESIA

Siti Maimunah, JATAM (Jaringan Advocacy Network)

ITALY

Laura Radiconcini, Amici della Terra

WWF

Legambiente

Campagna Sdebitardi

JAPAN

Ikuko Matsumoto, Friends of the Earth Japan

KYRGYZSTAN

Drs. Igor Hadjamberdiev and Suvakun Begaliev, "For Civil Society" Association

Kalia Moldogazieva, HDC "Tree of Life"

LATVIA

Alda Ozola, VAK Latvia

LITHUANIA

Saulius Piksrys, Atgaja

Linas Vainius, Lithuanian Green Movement

MACEDONIA

Aneta Bosevska, Proaktiva

PERU

Carlos Abanto, Associacion Civil Labor - FOE Peru

POLAND

Robert Cyglicki, Polish Green Network

PORTUGAL

Maria Pereira, Liga para a Proteco da Natureza (LPN)

Luis Galrao, EURONATURA, Centre for Environmental Law and Sustainable Development

SLOVAKIA

Juraj Zamkovsky, Friends of the Earth

Roman Havlicek, Centre for Environmental Public Advocacy

Peter Mihok, CEE Bankwatch Network

Peter Mihok, Center for Environmental Public Advocacy - CEPA

TAJIKISTAN

Nuriddin Karshiboev, NANSMIT

THE NETHERLANDS

Wiert Wiertsema, Both Ends

Willemyn Nagel, Friends of the Earth Netherlands

Janneke Bruil, Friends of the Earth International

Joost Hardeman, Goede Waar

UKRAINE

Yury Urbansky, National Ecological Centre of Ukraine

UNITED KINGDOM

Lord Avebury, House of Lords

John McDonnell MP, Hayes and Harlington

Jean Lambert MEP, Green Party

Akif Bozat, Kurdistan National Congress

Sait Akgul, Federation of Kurdish Associations

Diyari Kurdi, Kurdish Community Centre

Ibrahim Dogus, Halkevi Kurdish-Turkish Community Centre

Estella Schmid, Peace in Kurdistan/Kurdistan Solidarity Committee

Nick Rau, Friends of the Earth, (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)

Kate Geary, Baku Ceyhan Campaign

Linda Kaucher, West Papua Association

George Marshall, Rising Tide

Alex Wilks, Bretton Woods Project

USA

Doug Norlen, Pacific Environment

Aaron Goldzimer, Environmental Defense

Carol Welch, Friends of the Earth, USA

Steve Kretzmann, Institute for Policy Studies, USA

Peter Bosshard, International Rivers Network

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] See Deniz Zeyrek, "Ultimatum to Prime Minister", Radikal, 13 April 2003. English translation available on request.

[2] These transgressions led a wide coalition of NGO's to submit formal complaints to the British, French, German, Italian and US governments regarding the behaviour of BTC Co. on April 29 during the OECD Forum 2003.

[3] See for example Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Interim Resolution ResDH(2002)98, adopted 10 July 2002