When 1.5 Million Tonnes of Oil Are Being Spilled Every Year, You Have to Do Something about It
Dead Forest in Komi Republic © Denis Sinyakov / Greenpeace
Last year, I joined a volunteer movement that helps the Indigenous people who live in the Komi Republic to fight against the oil spills that are devastating this incredible landscape. I’ve seen the lifeless sites of old oil spills, and new oil spilling out every day.
Wells full of toxic waste are spilled into rivers, killing fish and poisoning the drinking water.
This situation terrifies me. Why do oil producers not think about the safety of people living nearby and the harm they bring to this world with their oil spills? It feels like they do it on purpose. Like a man being a wolf to their fellow man. It is insanely unfair.
Volunteers clean up an oil spill in the Komi Republic © Denis Sinyakov / Greenpeace
That’s why we’re doing everything we can to stop this. The Save Pechora Committee and Greenpeace Russia are working tirelessly to demand that oil companies reduce the amount of oil they spill and raise environmental and social standards. And that’s why local people and volunteers are participating in the global movement to Break Free From Fossil Fuels this year.
This week, we organised a race from one settlement to another, to meet with local people and encourage hope for a better future without oil spills as part of the global movement to Break Free from fossil fuels. We call it ‘Skis against oil’.
Skiing across the vast landscape of the Komi Republic © Igor Podgorny/Greenpeace
You might think that a small group of people skiing across northern Russia is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean consists of drops. Bringing people together to fight against a huge evil can only make us more powerful against it.
Dmitriy Kanev, a member of the Save Pechora Committee, is one of those people. “I joined the Save Pechora Committee because my heart bleeds over the contamination of our rivers, lakes, forests… The more people we have in campaigns like this ski race, the more we will manage to help our nature, our children, ourselves.”
These groups include children, older persons, indigenous women and men, workers with precarious employment conditions, migrant workers, journalists, human rights defenders, community activists and leaders who protest against or raise allegations concerning the impact of business activities, and marginalized rural and urban communities, as well as minorities that are subject to discrimination and marginalization, the UN reported.
Need to Prevent, Reduce, Address Adverse Impacts on Human Rights
“Significant challenges remain, and scaled-up efforts from all stakeholders are required to prevent, reduce and address adverse impacts on human rights linked to business activities,” urged Puvan Selvanathan, who currently heads the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, during the presentation the Group’s annual report to the UN General Assembly.
“States and business enterprises should adopt clear objectives, with measurable outcomes for implementation, and learn from the experiences of their peers,” Selvanathan stressed, urging them to scale up their efforts to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (see below), the global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse impacts on human rights linked to business activity.
In its report, the Working Group urges business organizations in sectors that have not yet engaged with business and human rights issues to identify sector-specific human rights issues and take measures to raise awareness, build capacity and implement the Principles within each sector, in dialogue with other stakeholders.
“Regional organisations and private standard setting and governance frameworks should also engage with the Working Group to include business and human rights in the work of their organisation, and to ensure coherence and alignment with the Guiding Principles,” Selvanathan noted.
First Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights
For the expert body, the adoption of the Guiding Principles will also be important for the post-2015 development Agenda, “particularly after the missed opportunity at Rio+20, where the outcome document failed to adequately address business respect for human rights in the drive to a green economy and sustainable development.”
“The first annual Forum on Business and Human Rights on 4-5 December 2012 will be an opportunity for all stakeholders to discuss challenges in the implementation of the Guiding Principles, in particular sectors, in operational environments and in relation to specific rights and groups, and to identify good practices and opportunities for dialogue and cooperation toward solutions,” Selvanathan added. “We invite all stakeholders to register and attend.” (See more information below)
The Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises was established by the UN Human Rights Council in June 2011 to support efforts to prevent and address adverse impacts on human rights arising from business activities, using the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The Working Group is independent from any government or organization. It reports to the Human Rights Council and to the UN General Assembly. Learn more here. Read the report of the Working Group to the General Assembly here.
*Source: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
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2012 Human Wrongs Watch ” data-medium-file=”" data-large-file=”" class=” wp-image-16067″ title=”BreakFree in the Komi Republic, Skis against oil © Igor Podgorny” src=”https://storage.googleapis.com/p4-production-content/international/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/3b4cb523-zy1g5371-1024×683.jpg” alt=”BreakFree in the Komi Republic, Skis against oil © Igor Podgorny” width=”365″ height=”244″ />
Skiers in the snow © Igor Podgorny
Fyodor Terentiev is a chairperson of the Save Pechora Committee, who spent summers at his grandfather’s house in a small village called Pilyegory. “He taught me how to live in harmony with nature, what I could and couldn’t do, which processes in nature could be interfered with and which ones couldn’t at all; how and when we could hunt and fish.
“I still remember my grandfather’s lessons. Later while working in oil field exploration, I could see how wildlife was being destroyed by hunters for oil, and local people were losing the ability to hold onto their traditional way of using natural resources. I just can’t stay indifferent here.”
Skis against oil © Igor Podgorny / Greenpeace
Galina Chuprova, is a postmaster in a small village founded in 19th century by Indigenous herders, who joined the skiers.
“My grandfather died in World War II. Not for the Communist party, but for defending his home and his family. Now the oil company Lukoil is another enemy that invaded our land and destroyed what we love and care about. Every inhabitant of our village must stand shoulder to shoulder to protect our land, our village, our children, ourselves. Otherwise, we’re nothing.”
*Julia Lapshina is a #StopOilSpills Volunteer with Greenpeace Russia.
Julia Lapshina’s report was published in Greenpeace. Go to ORIGINAL.
Source: https://human-wrongs-watch.net/2018/04/22/when-1-5-million-tonnes-of-oil-are-being-spilled-every-year-you-have-to-do-something-about-it/
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