Published by Senator Yoine Goldstein (retired) on 19 June 2008
Since 2003, more than
300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict in Darfur.
Chronic violence and instability have also displaced 2.3 million people in the
region, one million of whom are children. Looting and attacks on civilians are
commonplace, and it is estimated that thousands of women and girls have been
raped. Most of this unimaginable suffering has been inflicted against Darfuri
civilians by their own government or by its proxies. Canada can facilitate change in the
Sudanese government's intransigence through the strategic use of contract
prohibition.
Contract prohibition can
take several forms, but broadly speaking, it would place restrictions on the
types of companies that can bid on government contracts or on the development
of Canada's
natural resources, like petroleum reserves. By requiring foreign companies that
are eager to invest in Canada
to meet certain minimum human rights standards, we would create a powerful
incentive for them to end human rights abuses elsewhere.
In Sudan, for example, foreign oil
companies like the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) and the Oil and
Natural Gas Company of India (ONGC) have been implicated in severe human rights
abuses, including forced displacement of local populations and the suppression
of protests. The Sudan Divestment Task Force lists these companies among the
worst corporate offenders in Sudan.
Moreover, revenues from their operations provide the government of Sudan with funding for attacks on civilians in Darfur, and allow the regime to resist outside economic
pressure. A former Sudanese finance minister once estimated that 70% of his
government's oil profits go toward military expenditures. Imposing restrictions
on these revenues would greatly diminish the Sudanese government's capacity to
wage war on its own citizens.
How would such
restrictions be imposed? The government of Sudan lacks the capital and the
expertise required to fully exploit its own oil resources, and is heavily
reliant on foreign investment and expertise for resource development. In 2002,
Human Rights Watch reported that oil profits made up 45% of the Sudanese
government's total revenues. In 2003, that number rose to 57%. The price of oil
has increased since then, as has production. This means corporate entities like
CNPC and ONGC are remarkably well-placed to influence decisions made in Khartoum.
Canada is ideally positioned
to modify the behaviour of some of the largest oil companies operating in Sudan.
In fact, we have more leverage over them than most other industrialized
countries because we have something valuable that they desperately want -- more
oil. CNPC has a controlling stake in 11 oil blocks, which cover 258 square
kilo-metres in the Alberta
oilsands. It also lists participation in eight other oil blocks in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
ONGC has expressed a strong interest in the Alberta oilsands and is currently
considering an investment of roughly $1-billion. The Economic Times reported on
May 20 that ONGC Videsh -- the foreign investment arm of ONGC -- is negotiating
a takeover of an as-yet unidentified Canadian oil company, to cement a
strategic position in the North American energy market.
Clearly, both CNPC and ONGC
want access to Canadian oil. We should exploit this interest by adopting a
contract prohibition model that requires these companies, and others like them,
to meet minimum human rights standards in their operations abroad if they want
access to Canadian natural resources. Simply put, the privilege of receiving
Canadian contracts and developing Canadian resources should not be extended to
companies that help fund genocide.
This is not a radical
idea, nor is it unprecedented. At the end of 2007, American President George W.
Bush signed into law the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act, which
requires companies seeking contracts with the U. S. federal government to certify
that they are not helping the Sudanese government to commit genocide. This
legislation was adopted unanimously in both chambers of Congress, and several U. S.
states are also considering the introduction of contract prohibition. We should
follow this legislative example.
Our extensive oil
reserves give us a unique kind of leverage. Contract prohibition would have a
positive impact abroad, and on the perception of Canada by our allies and friends.
Of greater importance, it would serve as an example to other nations that
economic realities can be vested with an ethical component, and that principled
government activity can make a difference.
Senator Yoine Goldstein is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group
for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity