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Report calls for suspension of oil exploration in Toledo district

By on September 12, 2013

A new report published today by an international right group known as the Minority Rights Group International is calling for the suspension of oil exploration activities in the Toledo district by US Capital Energy Belize Limited. 

The report further calls for a resumption of oil exploration, only after the government of Belize “obtain the free, prior and informed consent of the Maya and Garifuna peoples who live in the area.” 

The head of law for the MRG Lucy Claridge, is quoted in a report by Reuters as saying that “Toledo District, Belize, is the ancestral homeland of indigenous Maya people and Afro-descendant Garifuna people. Under human rights law, the government of Belize is obliged to protect and ensure Maya and Garifuna land rights. Private businesses operating in the area also have a duty to respect these rights.

Although it is unlikely to happen, Claridge calls on the government of Prime Minister Dean Barrow to “halt oil exploration in Toledo without further delay, and delineate and title Maya and Garifuna lands.

The report, released today is titled: ‘Suddenly we have no more power’: oil drilling on Maya and Garifuna Lands in Belize. In the report, the Executive Director of the Sarstoon-Temash Institute for Indigenous Management Gregory Ch’oc noted that “the government of Belize has a duty to protect and safeguard our constitutional rights, yet it has abandoned its obligation, and instead has chosen to protect the interest of US Capital Energy Belize, Ltd.’

 

Additional information surrounding this story:

To read the full report from Reuters, go to: http://www.trust.org/item/20130912105945-vc65a/?source=hppartner

To read the full report by Minority Rights Group report, go to: http://www.minorityrights.org/12054/briefing-papers/suddenly-we-have-no-more-power-oil-drilling-on-maya-and-garifuna-land-in-belize.html

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