Panel Theme: The Role of Industry and Natural Resources
Paper Title:
Author:
The Impact of Extractive Industry on the Environment and
Human Rights – Case Study: Chad
Florence Kroff
An African proverb says “If you find oil in your garden, fill in the hole again and don’t say
anything to anybody”. This is nothing new, many African citizens who live above the black gold know from the past that oil does not improve the quality of their life.
The extractive industry has the worst environmental impact of any sector, and it is also linked, in Chad as in many countries throughout the world, with violation of human rights of citizens in the host countries of oil companies. In terms of environmental impact, the Chadian population must face the acute and chronic hazards, including fires and blowouts, but also the deforestation, the contamination of the water and the soil or the management of industrial waste. In terms of social impact and human rights, the oil industry brings with it potential threats to the right to an effective remedy, the right to equality, the right to freedom of expression and assembly and the labour rights, the right to adequate food, right to education, right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, right to adequate clothing and housing, etc.
Moreover, apart from the human rights impact of environmental destruction or contamination, the history shows that inserting massive oil revenues into countries with weak institutions, poor track records on democracy and governance, and few countervailing forces in society is generally a recipe for disaster. The situation in Chad is one more example of that usual pattern, where the oil revenues exacerbate the conflict and contribute to its prolongation.
How to address human rights abuses and environmental impact as consequences of activities of oil companies? Because of their great power (in some cases, exceeding the one of the State) and their specific characteristics, multinational corporations often operate in resource-rich developing countries with latent impunity.
Even if during the two past decades corporations adopted different voluntary codes of conduct committing themselves to respect human rights, labour and environment related principles, too often these voluntary codes of conduct lack in effectiveness and enforcement mechanisms.
But, over the past few years, the discussion has changed and focuses more on legal provisions to which companies must adhere rather than on voluntary codes of conduct.
The issue of the role of law and more specifically of international human rights law is becoming crucial. Although it is through international law that detailed human rights provisions have been developed, it is also the case that the primary subjects of international law are States.
Nowadays, however, the focus on human rights concerns progressively turned on the conduct of private sector 1 .
For instance the duty to promote and protect human rights applies to all corporations. The preamble to the Universal Declaration states that "every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote
respect for these rights and freedoms". The Declaration therefore applies to non-state actors such as business corporations
2
. Legally, a corporation (as legal person) refers to a for-profit organization with a legal standing apart from its shareholders and with the ability to transact business. Under that fiction, the law creates an entity and vests it with rights and duties 3 .
1
International Centre for Human Rights Policy, Beyond Voluntarism: Human Rights and the Developing Legal
2
Obligations of Businesses, Versoix, 2002.
M. ROBINSON, The Business Case for Human Rights, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Article
3 published in Visions of Ethical Business
M. T. KAMMINGA and S. ZIA-ZARIFI (ed.), Liability of Multinationals Corporations under International Law, Kluwer
Law International, The Hague, 2000
Author: Florence Kroff
University: University of Nottingham
Programme: HRLC International Human Rights Short Course

In the current situation of international law, corporations could be held responsible both indirectly and directly. Indirectly, States have the duty to protect human rights. As a consequence, they also have to ensure that private actors, including companies, do not abuse them. This duty on states gives rise to indirect obligations on companies. Secondly, an increasing number of authors argue in favour of the recognition in international law of direct legal obligations on companies, which might be enforced internationally when states are unable or unwilling to take action themselves 4 . Nowadays this argument is still controversial but corresponds to the current call among the international community for a greater legal accountability of multinational corporations for human rights and environmental rights abuses.
Concerning the impact of extractive industry on human rights and environment, the role of law is only a part of a bigger picture. Other elements have influence on that issue. We made reference to the voluntary codes, but we could also stress the ethical trading initiatives, consumer boycotts, advocacy and, of course, the role of civil society of the host country and the home country of the multinational corporations.
The role of Chad civil society organizations is crucial in order to exercise pressure upon corporations to engage in positive activity for the support of human rights and the protection of environment. The Chad civil society is active in this respect and it keeps on raising its voice crying out for peace and respect for human rights. They have been developing national platforms for it to act as an engine for change and to fulfil its role in challenging the establishment and its vested interests. The participation of Chad’s civil society in the monitoring and control of oil revenue constitutes a revolution inasmuch as it affects the management of the country’s public affairs. Nonetheless, this involvement is not yet synonym of a proactive participation by civil society in the management of the general state budget.
Conscious that the issue of the impact of the extractive industry on environment and human rights does not exclusively concern the host country of multinational corporations, the international civil society has committed to a series of advocacy and awareness-raising activities that call upon the whole international community.
4
J. DINE, Companies, International Trade and Human Rights, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005.
Author: Florence Kroff
University: University of Nottingham
Programme: HRLC International Human Rights Short Course