We just received word that our petition with the Ngobe people of Panama has passed another hurdle at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Ngobe are fighting a dam being built on their land by a partnership between the government of Panama and a subsidiary of the American energy giant AES. The company and the government have used violence, intimidation, and trickery to take the Ngobe's land, and this week the commission found that the Ngobe's case was "admissible," which means that the evidence of those human rights violations is valid and that if the parties cannot reach a "friendly settlement," the commission can send the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The court, in turn, has the authority to order Panama to halt dam construction. At this point, the possibility of a "friendly settlement" seems extremely remote, as AES and the government have already ignored the commission's earlier "precautionary measures," which called for the dam construction to stop while they considered the Ngobe's case. Instead of stopping construction, the company not only continued its work, but expanded it, starting construction on a second dam farther up the Changuinola River, threatening more Ngobe communities. But Cultural Survival is also redoubling its efforts. Cultural Survival Executive Director Ellen Lutz is planning a trip to the affected communities at the end of September for a close-up view of these developments and an opportunity to further discuss with the Ngobe their rights and the most effective ways to exercise them internationally.
