Written Answers. - Human Rights Abuses.
Róisín Shortall
Question:
82
Ms Shortall
asked the
Minister for Foreign Affairs
whether multilateral agencies, of which Ireland is a member, are funding the building of a dam which represents a major threat to the Kurdish people and the record of their civilisation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[17799/01]
The Ilisu dam forms part of the South-East Anatolia project in Turkey. The dam generates hydro-electricity from the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris in the predominantly Kurdish region of Turkey. The South-East Anatolia project, which has an anticipated completion date in 2010, involves more than 20 major dams, including the Ilisu facility, 19 hydroelectric plants and dozens of irrigation systems. The Ilisu dam itself is on the River Tigris close to the frontier with Syria and Iraq, and is currently the largest hydropower project in Turkey.
According to Kurdish and nongovernmental sources, such as Friends of the Earth, the South-East Anatolia project has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of local people. The Ilisu dam reservoir will flood 15 towns, more than 50 villages and is expected to displace about 20,000 people. A major concern has been the alleged lack of compensation for the affected Kurdish population and reportedly inadequate consultation over resettlement.
Concerns have also been voiced over the consequences of the dam for the Kurdish people's cultural heritage. The reservoir will flood Hasankeyf, one of the oldest settlements in the world and a site of great archaeological significance.
The World Bank has declined to fund the Ilisu dam or indeed the other aspects of the overall South-East Anatolia project. The bank had a number of serious reservations in relation to the project, including political sensitivities.
The potential for friction between Turkey and neighbouring Iraq and Syria over the transboundary use of waterways has also given cause for concern. In 1997 Turkey was one of only three out of 133 countries to reject the UN's Convention on Transboundary Waterways, which aims to minimise the negative impact of waterway development projects on neighbouring states. The River Tigris flows into Iraq and Syria about 40 miles from the Ilisu dam. There are concerns that the project will impact negatively on the quantity and quality of water reaching these neighbouring states.
The World Bank is a co-founder of the World Commission on Dams which it established with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in 1997. Its overall mission is to review the performance of large dams and make recommendations for future planning of water and energy projects. In November 2000, the World Commission on Dams published its report, which was sponsored by the World Bank, on a three-year global investigation into dam building. The report, which was launched by former South African President, Nelson Mandela, World Bank President, James Wolfensohn, and UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, is an indictment of past dam-building standards and calls for the application of much tougher financial, environmental and social guidelines in the future. The report found large dam projects in the developing world often cause more misery than benefit for the impoverished peoples affected by them, and has recommended sweeping, participatory changes in the way dam proposals are evaluated.
Because of its high-level backing and the emphasis on the adverse social and environmental impact of many dam and hydro-electric schemes, the report will be interpreted as also putting increased pressure on major dam-building countries to do more to respond to the demands of their critics.
The World Bank is providing almost no money for new dam projects – indeed it now funds less than 1% of the large dam projects that are under way around the world. Instead, it has refocused its resources on dam rehabilitation and safety.
