REPSOL
YPF Violates Human Rights and Pollutes the Environment
The Spanish transnational corporation REPSOL YPF is
being questioned for its social, environmental and cultural effects on the
peoples and ecosystems of the regions where it operates. The company is accused
of a series of human rights violations, for its social and cultural impacts on
indigenous peoples, for the pollution of the environment and of water sources,
for tax fraud, loss of biodiversity and deforestation in Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador.
Repsol YPF is one of Latin America’s largest oil and
gas corporations and a leading hydrocarbon corporation. It operates in 14 Latin
American countries. In this session of the Peoples’ Permanent Tribunal in Lima, cases on the impacts of Repsol YPF’s operations in Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador will be filed. The effects of the company’s
operations in Colombia have already been analyzed during the Session on oil corporations of
the Peoples’ Permanent Tribunal – Colombian charter (Bogota, 2007).
In Argentina the governments have allowed transnational corporations to control the
oil market since 1989, handing over the country’s energy sovereignty. Repsol
YPF’s largest field in Argentina is in Loma de la Lata (Neuquén), where the Mapuche communities Paynemil
and Kaxipayiñ live. The company’s operations have contributed to the reduction
of grazing land area, to the loss and fragmentation of natural areas, the
extinction of medicinal plants and the disappearance of native species such as
guanacos and choiques. In 1995, pollution with condensed gas in the freatic
layers was found in the Paynemil community, causing the chronic intoxication of
the residents. Hydrocarbons cause vertigo, weakness, nervousness, pain in
extremities and dermatitis, irritability, headaches, insomnia, disturbed
dreams, fatigue and spontaneous abortions.
In Bolivia, the company has been operating in the country for over ten years. This
has resulted in a constant damage of different kinds: In environmental terms,
the company is accused of over ten cases of pollution and environmental
degradation. In legal terms, Repsol YPF acted with an illegal and
unconstitutional contract until May 1st, 2007. In financial terms, under joined venture agreements it failed to fulfill
the investment levels promised and it sped up the depreciation rate to avoid
paying a tax on profits. In operational terms, the company has incurred in
smuggling and tax fraud.
Furthermore, the transnational corporation operates in Communal Lands of
Itika Guasu origin, where it entered indigenous territory without carrying out
a previous consultation under ILO’s 169 Convention, which became law in Bolivia in 19991. It directly or indirectly committed the
following human rights violations: discrimination of Guarani workers (who lack
social security and earn lower salaries); pollution and wearing out of water
sources; systematic logging without reforestation; change of behavioral
patterns; and promotion of new settlements that endanger the collective property
of the territory.
In Ecuador, Repsol YPF is the concessionarie in the Ecuadorian Amazon within Yasuni National Park and the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve. Its activities have
polluted water, soils, have caused the loss of
biodiversity, deforestation, soil erosion and noise in the protected areas. It
has also caused social and cultural impacts to the Waorani people and the
peoples who live in voluntary isolation like Tagaeri and Taromenane, ancient
owners of this land. The impacts include the displacement of communities,
changing of the cultural patterns, creating dependence on the company, health
damages, division of the communities and labor conflicts. Other consequences of
the presence of Repsol YPF in the Ecuadorian region are the extraction of wood
to build roads and camps, tax evasion or having turned the Ecuadorian Army into
an “armed group” at the service of the company.
REPSOL YPF has incurred in many violations of laws on the responsibility
of transnational corporations, including the following: the UN rules on
corporate social responsibility, ILO’s 169 Convention, the UN Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the national constitution of Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia.
Key issues: Natural Resources and Neocolonialism
Denouncing organizations: Acción Ecológica (Ecuador), Asamblea del Pueblo Guaraní Itika Guasu (Bolivia), Centro de Documentación
e Información de Bolivia – CEDIB, Centro de Estudios Aplicados a los Derechos
Ec. Soc. y Cult. CEADESC (Bolivia), Ecologistas en Acción / Observatorio de
Multinacionales en América Latina – OMAL- Paz con Dignidad, Ekologistak Martxan
(Estado español), Foro Ciudadano por la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos -FOCO/
Fundación de Investigaciones Sociales y Políticas – FISyP (Argentina)