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Last Update: July 16, 2008
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- Paper Pulp Mills - Uruguay
- Corporate Accountability and Human Rights
- Climate Change and Human Rights
Argentina to Send Uruguayan Papermill Case to the Hague
26th of January – Entre Ríos, Argentina. Following a closed door meeting held yesterday in Buenos Aires between Jorge Busti the Governor of Entre Rios (the province affected by the two proposed papermill plants currently under construction on shores of the Uruguay River) and Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, the Argentine president pushed the already controversial international papermill case financed by the IFC into further turmoil and conflict, announcing that Argentina would take Uruguay to the International Court of Justice at the Hague for violations of the Uruguay River Treaty, the bilateral treaty that governs the use of border waters between the two countries.
This is an important blow to Uruguay and to the IFC of the World Bank, that claims that the papermills not only do not contaminate, but that they are in compliance with regulations stipulated by the international bilateral treaty. Private financing from the Dutch ING Group to Botnia is also placed at great risk since ING has promised ONLY to finance the mills IF the bi-national commission (established by the treaty) is in agreement. Things are further complicated by IFC’s international waterways safeguard policy, which call for compliance with international bilaterial approval and compliance with international law governing crossborder waterways. Argentina’s filing to the Hague on the case is the formal step established by the Rio Uruguay Treaty when the countries cannot reach an agreement on the river’s management. The filing clearly triggers ING’s and IFC’s red lights and establishes important grounds for NOT financing these mills.
More Information
For more information please contact:
Daniel Taillant
Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA)
Cel. Tel. 54 9 351 625 3290;
CEDHA: 54 351 425-6278
jdtaillant@cedha.org.ar
