A/HRC/41/54
economic order based on sovereign equality, interdependence, mutual interest and
cooperation among all States, as well as to encourage the observance and realization of
human rights. The duty to promote the right to development also applies to transnational
corporations (E/CN.4/1334, para. 109).
31.
The Declaration on Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources is also vital for
understanding the baseline for equal relations within the extractivism economy. It is stated
in article 1 of the Declaration that the right of peoples and nations to permanent sovereignty
over their natural wealth and resources must be exercised in the interests of their national
development and of the well-being of the people of the State concerned. It is stated in
article 2 that the exploration, development and disposition of such resources, as well as the
importation of the foreign capital required for these purposes, should be in conformity with
the rules and conditions that the peoples and nations freely consider to be necessary or
desirable with regard to the authorization, restriction or prohibition of such activities. It is
stated in article 5 that the free and beneficial exercise of the sovereignty of peoples and
nations over their natural resources must be furthered by the mutual respect of States based
on their sovereign equality. It is stated in article 7 that any violation of the rights of peoples
and nations to sovereignty over their natural wealth and resources is contrary to the spirit
and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and hinders the development of
international cooperation and the maintenance of peace.
Inequity and inequality in the global extractivism economy
32.
In important respects, the contemporary global extractivism economy differs from
the colonial extractivism economy, for example, in that territories of extraction have
generated national economic growth through participation in the extractivism economy.
Recent decades have seen the expansion of the global extractivism economy, with countries
of extraction in regions all over the world experiencing notable growth in extractive output
and intensification of the social and political dynamics that attend the extractivism
economy.
33.
With respect to extractivist expansion, in Latin America, for example, gas
production tripled in the Plurinational State of Bolivia between 2000 and 2008, and
petroleum production in Bolivia (the Plurinational State of), Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico and
Venezuela (the Bolivarian Republic of) rose between 50 and 100 per cent from 1990 to
2008.35 In Colombia, the leading exporter of gold, the area mined grew from 1.1 million
hectares in 2002 to 5.7 million hectares in 2015. In Peru, the area of land mined grew from
2.5 million hectares in 1991 to 27 million hectares in 2013. 36 Scholars have characterized
Latin American countries as having undergone “reprimarization” of their economies.37 As
regards African nations, those with rich reserves of natural resources have export
economies dominated by non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels, metals and nonmetallic minerals. Between 1980 and 2008, non-renewable resource exports in Africa
increased from 38 to 47 per cent, with the dominant drivers being crude oil, coal and
natural gas as subcategories of fossil fuels. 38 In South-East and Central Asia, extractive
industries have expanded rapidly in recent years, with some States relying heavily on them
for revenue. 39 For example, in Mongolia and Papua New Guinea, the extractive sectors
account for 86 per cent of total exports,40 and Kazakhstan generates an estimated 50 per
cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in this way, too. 41
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
Brand, Dietz and Lang, “Neo-extractivism in Latin America”, p. 131.
www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bp-land-power-inequality-latin-america301116-en.pdf, p. 32.
Brand, Dietz and Lang, “Neo-extractivism in Latin America”, p. 142.
Economic Development in Africa: Report 2012 – Structural Transformation and Sustainable
Development in Africa (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.12.II.D.10), pp. 38–44.
https://resourcegovernance.org/sites/default/files/FrameworkExtractiveIndustriesGov_
Full_20141202.pdf.
https://eiti.org/papua-new-guinea; https://eiti.org/mongolia.
https://eiti.org/kazakhstan#revenue-collection.
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