Project for integrated social and sustainable development in the Lacandon Jungle (Prodesis)
WRITTEN QUESTION by Tobias Pflüger (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (18 July 2005 P-2769/05)
Subject: Project for integrated social and sustainable development in the Lacandon Jungle (Prodesis) (ALA/B7-310/2003/5756)
The Prodesis project was begun in January 2004 and is financed by the government of the Mexican federal state of Chiapas (with a contribution of EUR 16 million) and the EU (with a contribution of EU 15 million). It is targeted at 16 micro‑regions bordering on, or forming part of, the Montes Azules biosphere reserve. It is being presented as an instrument for combating poverty through ‘empowerment’ of regional stakeholders and planning and implementation of development projects. According to press reports and my own local research, those belonging to the indigenous population and farmers living in the Lacandon Jungle region were not adequately informed beforehand about this project, or involved in the planning of the project. According to human rights organisations in Europe and Mexico, the European Commission is running a risk, in financing this project, of lending support to the counter‑insurgency action being waged in the context of ‘low‑intensity warfare’ and of exacerbating socio-economic tensions between communities, by virtue of the fact that only certain individual population groups are benefited by this project. Basically, this project suffers from the lack of a basic conflict analysis and feasibility study for a high‑conflict region.
What information does the Commission have regarding the current state of progress of the Prodesis project? What project objectives have already been achieved, in what places?
How much of the total EUR 15 million has already been paid to the project by the EU, and how, precisely, has the money provided been used to date?
Under Article 7 of ILO Convention 169, indigenous population groups have to be consulted before projects may be carried out on their lands.
When were the provisions of Article 7 of ILO Convention 169 implemented within the context of Prodesis, and what are the precise mechanisms for their implementation?
Subject: Project for integrated social and sustainable development in the Lacandon Jungle (Prodesis) (ALA/B7-310/2003/5756)
The Prodesis project was begun in January 2004 and is financed by the government of the Mexican federal state of Chiapas (with a contribution of EUR 16 million) and the EU (with a contribution of EU 15 million). It is targeted at 16 micro‑regions bordering on, or forming part of, the Montes Azules biosphere reserve. It is being presented as an instrument for combating poverty through ‘empowerment’ of regional stakeholders and planning and implementation of development projects. According to press reports and my own local research, those belonging to the indigenous population and farmers living in the Lacandon Jungle region were not adequately informed beforehand about this project, or involved in the planning of the project. According to human rights organisations in Europe and Mexico, the European Commission is running a risk, in financing this project, of lending support to the counter‑insurgency action being waged in the context of ‘low‑intensity warfare’ and of exacerbating socio-economic tensions between communities, by virtue of the fact that only certain individual population groups are benefited by this project. Basically, this project suffers from the lack of a basic conflict analysis and feasibility study for a high‑conflict region.
What information does the Commission have regarding the current state of progress of the Prodesis project? What project objectives have already been achieved, in what places?
How much of the total EUR 15 million has already been paid to the project by the EU, and how, precisely, has the money provided been used to date?
Under Article 7 of ILO Convention 169, indigenous population groups have to be consulted before projects may be carried out on their lands.
When were the provisions of Article 7 of ILO Convention 169 implemented within the context of Prodesis, and what are the precise mechanisms for their implementation?
Tobias Pflüger - 2005/09/13 14:14
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