Chinese And Russian Mining Interests A Violation Of Green Rights

The people of Zimbabwe have always had close traditional ties to nature which is the environment. It is only recently that the issue of environmental rights, popularly known as green rights has come into vogue. Just as with political rights, environmental rights were usurped in Zimbabwe, with the majority of the people losing their rights to access to resources.

Without green rights it is impossible for the ordinary suffering poor peasants of Zimbabwe to ever dream of attaining economic freedom. While environmental rights seem to be less important to most mining companies, a case can be made that it is arguably difficult to proceed guaranteeing other rights. Without rights to access to resources, it may be impossible to guarantee the inhabitants of Chiadzwa in Marange or Birchenough or Penhalonga the right to life and economic development.

We may argue that most of the economic woes bedeviling Zimbabwe are a direct result of violation of green rights as the majority is denied access to resources such as gold and diamond. Most if not all of the traditional inhabitants of Chiadzwa have been forced off their land so that foreign Chinese, Russian and Canadian firms may extract their diamond. These poor villagers have been compensated with money and brick houses which are but temporary and momentary joys and can never be equated to the billions of income they were supposed to continuously gain without end for the rest of their lives through the harnessing of their God-given diamonds.

They lost the graves which they used to bury their ancestors. They lost the sense of home! It might seem like a justified move by the Chinese or Russians to resettle villagers from areas where gold and diamond deposits have been found yet it does a lot of damage to the history of the affected; politically, socially, economically, and even psychologically. How much must the Russians and the Chinese pay to compensate for such a gross violation of green rights?

In areas like Penhalonga in Mutasa South constituency under legislator and house of assembly member Honorable Irene Zindi, the Russians have disposed the locals of their traditional communal lands which they used to cultivate their crops. The open cast mining method the Russians are using does a lot of damage to the environment and it has left the locals impoverished. The mining artillery is too abnormal to use ordinary roads without dainting them. The Russians have failed to honor their community developmental agreements with the Zimbabwe government resulting in government halting some of their mining operations.

Major river courses have been polluted and to some extent destroyed completely. Areas where they have extracted minerals are no longer conducive for agriculture as the top soil has been buried under the tonnes and tonnes of residue from gold extraction.

China and Russia mining interests are exploiting the environment of Zimbabwe while they make billions of dollars in profits. They pay little or no attention to the fact that this infringes on the rights of both the present and future generations of Zimbabwe.

Provisions should be made by citizens of Zimbabwe to compel their government to protect their green rights. In Mozambique, for example, all citizens have the right to present petitions, complaints and claims before the relevant authorities to obtain the restoration of rights that have been violated, or in defense of the public interest. The constitution further gives citizens 'the right not to comply with orders that are illegal or which infringe upon their rights.'

It was the 1972 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment that put into sharp focus the issue of environmental rights. The Stockholm Declaration, which has been described as the 'environmental counterpart of the 1948 Universal Declaration Of Human Rights', states, 'Man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality, and adequate conditions of life, in an environment where equality permits a life of dignity and well-being…Man… bears a solemn responsibility to protect and improve the environment for future generations.'

About half of SADC member states were not even independent when the Stockholm Declaration was adopted. It was exactly two decades later that they played a major role at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, which culminated in the Adoption of Agenda 21. The document states that people are at the center of concerns for sustainable development, and 'are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.'

Agenda 21 makes a case for environmental issues to be handled with the participation of all concerned citizens, emphasizing that at the national level, 'each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities…'

Environmental rights also include; safety from harmful exposure; prevention of pollution and environmental damage; protection from pollution and environmental damage; compensation for pollution and environmental damage; and enforcement of pollution control regulations.

Green rights are defined in different international treaties and constitutions of a number of SADC countries, Zimbabwe included. The Draft International Convention on Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development - states that all human beings have a fundamental right to an environment adequate for their health and well-being, while the 1981 African Union Charter on Human and People's Rights - states that all peoples shall have the right to a generally satisfactory environment favorable to their development.

A healthy environment is a prerequisite for a healthy life. The right to work, the right to form political parties and or trade unions, the right to food, clothing, housing, medical care, education, which all fall under second generation rights, presuppose a healthy environment.