A/HRC/41/54 37. Within the extractivism economy, countries and peoples in the global South remain subject to foreign imperatives. For instance, in Latin America, between 50 and 70 per cent of all mining activity involves Canadian companies. 50 Relatedly, there have been various complaints about the undue influence of Canada in domestic policies and regulations surrounding mining operations and licensing.51 For instance, there is evidence that Canada actively participated in the drafting of the new mining laws in Colombia, mainly through Canadian technical assistance and experts.52 A submission received for the present report documented marginalization and exclusion of Haitians of African descent (especially in resource-rich rural areas) from the extractivist industry in Haiti. Government officials and foreign companies have concluded extractivist agreements without input from the affected communities, perpetuating the historical legacies of racialized exclusion of Haitians of African descent. In some contexts, external intervention is formalized. The Special Rapporteur received a submission in which attention was drawn to the institutionalized ethnic discrimination against Palestinians, whom Israeli authorities exclude from participating in the extractivism economy in the Occupied Territories.53 38. In the global South, proceeds from the natural resource sector often accrue to the personal fortunes of the ruling elite instead of contributing to overall national well-being.54 The informal functioning of a State’s extractivism apparatus enables public officials to make use of their positions for personal financial gain. 55 For example, the State-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation “failed to pay” approximately $16 billion in revenue to the State’s treasury. 56 Similarly, oil extraction in Equatorial Guinea has also resulted in severe corruption. A large scandal in the early 2000s involved the deposit of hundreds of millions of dollars into an account at Riggs Bank in the United States of America.57 According to a human rights group in Spain, the current President of Equatorial Guinea maintained signatory authority over many of the Riggs accounts and was later accused of siphoning off $26 million. 58 Transnational corporations have been centrally implicated.59 39. The scale of corporate benefit from the extractivism economy is staggering and, when compared with the economic conditions of the territories of extraction, clearly illustrates where the power lies. Six major international oil companies – British Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Total – account for approximately two thirds of the world’s production. 60 Data show that the revenues of the largest extractive corporations significantly eclipse the national GDP of many countries. 61 In Latin America, even as export shares in mining and other industries in territories of extraction have risen, so has control and ownership of extractivist enterprise by transnational corporations. 62 Although, by and large, Africa has not experienced the same leftist turn as the one seen in Latin America, Governments on the continent have promoted an approach that largely 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 www.dplf.org/sites/default/files/report_canadian_mining_executive_summary.pdf, pp. 3–4. Ibid., p. 26. Ibid. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/137111468329419171/pdf/ AUS29220REPLAC0EVISION0January02014.pdf. www.international-alert.org/sites/default/files/Uganda_GenderOilGas_EN_2014.pdf, p. 44. See Gordon Crawford, Coleman Agyeyomah and Atinga Mba, “Ghana – big man, big envelope, finish: Chinese corporate exploitation in small-scale mining in development, in Engels and Dietz, Contested Extractivism. See, e.g., www.internationalalert.org/sites/default/files/Uganda_GenderOilGas_EN_2014.pdf, pp. 44–45. www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/03/nigeria-oil-corruption-buhari/473850. www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/bhr0709webwcover_0.pdf, pp. 21–26. Ibid., p. 19. See, e.g., Appel, The Licit Life of Capitalism. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/26130/9780821396582.pdf ?sequence=2&isAllowed=y, p. 48. www.globaljustice.org.uk/news/2016/sep/12/10-biggest-corporations-make-more-money-mostcountries-world-combined. See Gavin Bridge, “Global production networks and the extractive sector: governing resource-based development”, Journal of Economic Geography, vol. 8, No. 3; and Jody Emel and Matthew Huber, “A risky business: mining, rent and the neoliberalization of ‘risk’”, Geoforum, vol. 39, No. 3. 11