(Finnish News Agency, Helsinki, 28 April 2006) Topi Vesteri, the vice chief executive of Finnvera, the Finnish export credit guarantee body, was quoted as saying in the Friday issue of business daily Kauppalehti that it would have to reappraise its role in the mill being built by pulp maker Metsä-Botnia in Uruguay. Argentinian human rights body CEDHA has filed an OECD Specific Instance Complaint against the Finnish company Botnia for violations of OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises in Uruguayan Mills Project. Meanwhile Argentine NGOs and local government bodies are lobbying Spanish ECA CESCE to withdraw support for another mill in Uruguay following the freezing of World Bank support.
Pulp and Paper
Uruguayan pulp and paper complex faces legal battle and diplomatic pressures
(IPS, Santiago, 11 March 2006) As tensions between the governments of Argentina and Uruguay over two pulp mills on a river dividing the countries appear to be abating, local residents and activists continue to demand a halt to both projects. The Argentinian Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA) is submitting a Specific Instance against Finnish ECA Finnvera plc for breaching OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises with respect to the project. Despite the Argentina / Uruguay 90 day moratorium for an environmental review (see the IPS story linked above), Spanish ECA CESCE on 7 March 2006 published a 30 day ex-ante notice of it’s intent to possibly support the project.
Human rights and ECAs: the Uruguayan paper mills case (PDF)
(CEDHA, Argentina, 23 Jan. 2006) Nearly 40 000 Argentine citizens have petitioned the Inter American Commission on Human Rights, alleging that the Uruguayan government has allowed serious breaches of human rights caused by two pulp mills. The largest of the mills is sponsored by three Finnish pulp and paper companies, Botnia, Metsaliitto and UPM, and is backed by Finnvera, the official, state owned export credit agency of Finland. The mills, located on the international waterway between Uruguay and Argentina, breach IFC operational policy, OECD Guidelines and violate international law, recently triggering Argentina to bring a case before International Court of Justice at the Hague.
Human rights and ECAs: the Uruguayan paper mills case
(23 Jan 2006) Briefing note from CEDHA. Nearly 40 000 Argentine citizens have petitioned the Inter American Commission on Human Rights, alleging that the Uruguayan government has allowed serious breaches of human rights caused by two pulp mills. The largest of the mills is sponsored by three Finnish pulp and paper companies, Botnia, Metsaliitto and UPM, and is backed by Finnvera, the official, state owned export credit agency of Finland. The mills, located on the international waterway between Uruguay and Argentina, breach IFC operational policy, OECD Guidelines and violate international law, recently triggering Argentina to bring a case before International Court of Justice at the Hague.
