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Mozambican Bar Association speaks out on “resettlement, land rights and food security”
11:53 CAT | 30 Jun 2017
O País (File photo)
The Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) says that, in addition to disregarding the law, the certain companies exploiting resources in the country are violating human rights. It points to the non-resettlement of communities near company sites and the worsening of the living conditions of resettled families as some of the irregularities committed by multinationals.
The ProSavana agriculture project being implemented by the government in partnership with Brazil and Japan also shows irregularities, according to the Bar Association chairman Flávio Menete.
“We have been taking legal action against these companies and against the Mozambican state to ensure that communities affected by resource exploitation projects have their rights protected and safeguarded,” Menete said in Maputo yesterday at a seminar organised by the Bar Association on the benefits and disadvantages of resource exploitation.
Resource exploitation projects In Mozambique are on the increase, with emphasis on coal, natural gas, among others, with major impact on community life.
Gas and coal cause more resettlement
The OAM says it receives constant complaints from communities affected by coal mining projects in Cateme in Moatize and Cassaca in Marara in Tete province claiming breach of promise.
Other communities are affected by natural gas exploitation in Palma and ProSavana in the Nacala Corridor.
Menete said activities are under way to safeguard the human rights of the communities covered. The OAM was trying to safeguard food security and the fundamental rights of the communities concerned, so that they were part of the development instead of being victims of it.
“We have populations that have been resettled to locations where it is not possible to practice agriculture, increasing food security. This is a matter that should be discussed calmly, responsibly and inclusively,” he said.
Multinational mining and gas companies have invested billions of dollars in Mozambique in recent years, and the government estimates that they will attract even more financial resources for additional investment.
But the explosive growth of the mining sector, without adequate safeguards, is leading to human rights violations and a loss of opportunities to reduce widespread poverty.
Marara population waits seven years for resettlement
About 300 families from the district of Marara in Tete affected by the coal mining project have not yet been resettled, the president of the OAM Human Rights Commission said.
Ivete Mafundza said that about 290 families affected by coal mining in Cassoca, Marara district, Tete province had not yet been resettled, despite the fact that the process was announced in 2010.
Mafundza said that the families concerned were living in an environment so polluted as to endanger their lives.
“The affected families lost their land rights, and the compensation to which they were entitled was not paid in full. Housing conditions in resettlement areas still remain precarious and problematic, and the land allocated to these families is unfit for agriculture,” she explained.
“Communities face serious problems of hunger, access to water and transportation,” she added.
Source: O País
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