Activists denounce ExxonMobil and the Guyanese government for human rights violations

Published at: 01/03/2024 11:11 AM

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) was informed on Thursday that the government of Guyana, ExxonMobil and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “have been violating the human rights of Guyanese citizens while exploiting oil and gas.”

According to information published on the Kaieteur News web portal, activists Elizabeth Hughes, Karen DeSouza, Vanda and Danuta Radzik presented arguments to the organization during a virtual hearing on the 'Impacts of Private Companies on Human Rights' with a specific focus on the “Right to a Healthy Environment, the Rule of Law and Justice in the Oil and Gas Industry”.

In this regard, it became known that a complaint had previously been filed with this body “for the lack of application of the Constitution with regard to the oil sector and the lack of information and consultation, and a series of other violations of their rights”.

Among the arguments presented, the mismanagement of hazardous wastes stands out, which can directly affect the lives of citizens, on the part of the EPA, which has renounced Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) to measure the harm they represent.

Another point made by activist Radzik highlighted: “the lack of employment of highly specialized and experienced petroleum, geological and environmental engineers for the EPA has resulted in a lack of experience and capacity to protect the environment, health and well-being of the people of Guyana.”

In addition, he added that “the EPA has waived or exempted “ at least 10 onshore projects, including a gas-fired power plant, an SLB calibration and storage facility for radioactive sources, a GOES waste treatment facility, a Tiger Rentals waste facility, SLB and Haliburton liquid mud drilling plants.”

For her part, Elizabeth Hughes focused her presentation on the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project, developed between the Guyanese Government and ExxonMobil, of which she said that “there is no feasibility study for the Welsh location with its 25 km of land pipeline, and there are no previous or updated feasibility studies since the arrival of COVID 19 and the war in Ukraine that has boosted world prices”.

He also added that “the human rights of citizens were being violated”, since there was no consultation, “the right to free, prior and informed consent, lack of adequate information, lack of access to any information and non-disclosure of information is lacking.”

Mazo News Team