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sakhalin resources
Sakhalin II and BTC driving increased
prostitution, human trafficking and HIV/AIDS,
new report finds
A new report
"Boom time blues: Big oil's gender impacts in
Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Sakhalin"
(published by
CEE Bankwatch
and
Gender
Action
, documents the harrowing rise of
prostitution, human trafficking, HIV/AIDS and
violence against women in communities
affected by Shell's Sakhalin II and BP's
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline
projects.
Based on field research with local people
conducted by CEE Bankwatch Network and Gender
Action in April this year, "Boom time blues:
Big oil's gender impacts in Azerbaijan,
Georgia, and Sakhalin" [1] reveals the
increased burden and poverty for local
communities and women as a result of the
inflow of predominantly foreign male workers
as well as the environmental degradation,
land loss and damaged communal infrastructure
that Shell's and BP's mega-projects have
delivered.
The report argues that the involvement of
the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) in the two projects so far
has failed to provide suitable social safety
nets for vulnerable members of the community,
which the EBRD's current environmental policy
regards as necessary for achieving progress
towards sustainable development.
Along
with the International Finance Corporation
(IFC), the EBRD has backed the BTC project
with a USD 250 million public loan and is
reportedly on the brink of making a final
funding decision on the highly controversial
Sakhalin II Phase 2 project.
According to Fidanka Bacheva-McGrath of
CEE Bankwatch Network, who conducted research
for the report on Sakhalin Island, there is
strong discontent on Sakhalin Island over
Shell's behaviour towards the local
environment and the harsh effects of the
project on Sakhalin's social fabric."The
report has examples from the BTC project of
grave gender and social impacts that once the
public banks are in, they provide very little
help to communities affected by these big oil
projects. We hope that the public banks'
mistake with the BTC project will not be
repeated and that Shell's persistent lack of
respect for international standards and local
communities will not be sanctioned by
millions of dollars of public money from the
EBRD."
In 2006 the EBRD is preparing to revise
its environmental policy which fails to
properly cover social issues. Currently the
EBRD policy does not have specific safeguards
for vulnerable groups, and CEE Bankwatch
Network and Gender Action are calling for the
EBRD to introduce much more detailed policies
and safeguards that will require project
sponsors to properly identify and address
social and gender issues during a project's
design, construction and operation
period.
Elaine Zuckerman, of Gender Action, wants
immediate action."Both the EBRD and the IFC
have turned a blind eye to the increased
prostitution, human trafficking and HIV/AIDS
that the BTC and Sakhalin II pipeline
projects generate. Lacking gender policies,
both institutions are ill-equipped to
identify and address such tragic social
outcomes of their investments. It is time for
the EBRD and IFC to develop and implement
binding gender safeguard policies."
Last
update:
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