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dam-l Press Release

PRESS RELEASE
Thursday, 2 April 1998
Aleta Brown
Campaign Associate
510 848 1155
aleta@irn.org


Anthropologists Slam World Bank for Indigenous Rights Abuses in Chile

The Committee for Human Rights of the American Anthropological Association
(AAA) has accused the World Bank of a range of human rights abuses
associated with its funding of the Pangue Dam in Chile. The charges against
the World Bank include collusion in the withholding of information vital to
the survival of the Pehuenche indigenous people and the breaking of the
institution's own policies on indigenous people and resettlement.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) - the private-sector arm of the
World Bank - provided nearly $175 million for the Pangue-Ralco hydropower
project in 1992. The IFC also brokered funds from several European public
and private sources.

The 450 MW Pangue Dam was the first to be built across the Biobío, a river
renowned for its wildness and scenic beauty. Ralco is a larger dam to be
built upstream of Pangue, which will function to slow siltation and
regulate flow into Pangue.

The IFC has repeatedly asserted that Pangue is a stand-alone project, in
spite of clear evidence that it was planned to operate in conjunction with
the more devastating Ralco Dam. Four more dams are also planned for the
Biobío.

The Committee for Human Rights (CfHR) report is in response to a complaint
from anthropologist Dr. Theodore Downing. Downing was hired by the World
Bank to evaluate the effectiveness of the Pehuen Foundation, which was
created to mitigate the socioeconomic impacts of Pangue Dam. Downing
complained to the AAA that the IFC had unjustifiably delayed the release of
his highly critical evaluation.

Downing's report, submitted to the IFC in May 1996, was withheld from the
public and the affected Pehuenches until December of 1997. The CfHR report
concludes that the "IFC withheld Downing's report because of the political
volatility of the information and findings in it," and that the "release of
the Downing report would have damaged efforts to have Ralco approved."

The report was withheld during Chile's public comment period for Ralco's
environmental assessment; withheld when Chile's environment department
(Conama) declared the environmental assessment unsatisfactory; withheld
when

Conama's Director resigned. The Downing report was finally released only
when it seemed that Ralco could not be stopped. Chile's power utility,
Endesa, plans to start full-scale construction of Ralco in August 1998.

Despite IFC's insistence that it funded Pangue as a stand-alone project,
the CfHR report found that "Downing's evaluation presented evidence that
Endesa used IFC loan funds earmarked for Pangue to support Ralco
development." Furthermore, the Pehuen Foundation is being used to resettle
the 600 Pehuenches affected by the Ralco Dam.

The report also criticizes IFC's claim that the problems associated with
the project are part of IFC's "learning curve." The CfHR recognizes that
Bank projects have a history of devastating impacts on indigenous people,
and challenges their excuse of learning by mistakes: "The Bank has had to
'learn' the same lessons and draw the same conclusions again and
again...the Bank must recognize and take responsibility for the damage
IFC's project has inflicted on the Pehuenche, as well as the far greater
damage that mass deportation from Ralco will cause."

"The World Bank's role in the Pangue-Ralco project has been to collude with
and protect the interests of Endesa," says Aleta Brown, Campaign Associate
of International Rivers Network. The Bank has hidden information vital to
the survival of the Pehuenche people."

The upper Biobío is home to the Pehuenches. In the last century, the land
held by the Pehuenche people has shrunk from 54 million hectares to 30,000
hectares due to military take-over and non-Indian territorial expansion.
The lives and culture of the Pehuenche depend on renewable natural
resources such as piñon nuts, pastures, wood for building and fuel, and
medicinal plants. The Biobío River is at the core of their livelihood,
their traditions, and their culture.

The Committee for Human Rights urges the President of the American
Anthropological Association to "call upon the Chilean government to stop
the forcible resettlement of the Pehuenche of the Ralco area and the
construction of the Ralco Dam that would make the resettlement necessary."

-30-

The report can be found in its entirety at www.ameranthassn.org/chrbrief.htm

International Rivers Network is a non-profit organization which promotes
the rights of communities around the world affected by river development
projects.

For more information:
Aleta Brown, Phone: 510 848 1155 Fax: 510 848 1008 aleta@irn.org


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Aleta Brown
Campaign Associate
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
Phone: 1.510.848.1155
Fax: 1.510.848.1008
email: aleta@irn.org
http://www.irn.org