DEVELOPMENTAL, HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE
BAKU-TBLISI-CEYHAN OIL PIPELINE MEMORANDUM FROM CONCERNED NON-GOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATIONS TO DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOREIGN
AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE H.M TREASURY & UK EXPORT CREDITS GUARANTEE
DEPARTMENT
BAKU CEYHAN CAMPAIGN
BRETTON WOODS PROJECT
CORNER HOUSE
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH (EWNI)
KURDISH HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT
November 2002
Background
Within the coming
months, funders such as the World Bank and the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will decide whether to provide
up to $1.5 billion of public money to finance a major new pipeline
system from the Caspian Sea to the West.
BP is the lead company
in the BTC Consortium (BTC) which intends to build the pipelines
and is also the operator and lead shareholder in the oil and gas
fields which will supply them. BP has said that the pipeline cannot
be built without "free public money". The pipeline consortium
is seeking public funds via the International Finance Corporation
and the EBRD. The UK's Export Credit Guarantee Department has
also been approached for support by BTC but has not, as yet, received
any application from a UK exporter.
The project has not
yet been accepted into the project pipelines of IFC and EBRD;
and the UK Department for International Development (DfID), which
has an indirect interest as a shareholder in IFC and EBRD, has
seen no early appraisals. However, despite the project still being
in its pre-appraisal stage, IFC staff have already given presentations
on the project to banks such as ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank.NGOs
are concerned that the IFC is associating itself publicly with
the project at this stage and fear that such presentations may
be read as an indication that IFC support for the project has
already been secured.
In June 2002, over
60 regional and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
wrote to the IFC, the EBRD and other financial institutions raising
a range of environmental, human rights, developmental and environmental
concerns. The groups urged that the IFC and other potential funders
"impose a number of conditions on loan approval at the earliest
possible stage of project appraisal" and that no funding be provided
"unless the project is able to clearly demonstrate positive local
and regional development impacts associated with the project over
the next 30 years." Replies were received from the EBRD and a
number of other institutions
Since then, three
international NGO Fact Finding Missions have travelled the route
of the proposed pipeline and revealed major discrepancies between
claims made by the BTC consortium about consultation and compensation
arrangements and the realities on the ground. Major violations
of World Bank and EBRD standards were identified. Concerns were
also raised that the Host Government Agreements signed between
the BTC and the governments of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan
are in potential violation of the European Convention on Human
Rights, European Union laws and other international law instruments.
We understand that
DfID will shortly prepare its instructions to UK Executive Directors
at the IFC and the EBRD and that ECGD is currently undertaking
due diligence and environmental screening of the project. This
Memorandum is intended to inform relevant UK government departments
of continuing NGO concerns with regard to the project's impacts
on regional development, poverty reduction, debt, human rights,
good governance and democracy.
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