The Construction Of A Dam And Its Impact On The Social,...

These articles discuss the construction of a dam’s project in Mapuche territories and its impact on the social, political and economic life of the indigenous community. The Mapuche people of Southern Chile have a long history and they were able to defend their independence despite many raids by giving many sacrifices. But a final defeat their on the hands of Chilean army forced them to be at the mercy of Chile’s government and then began a long and different fight for survival. They were forcefully relocated to reserves, where the lands were unfit and insufficient to sustain life. Chilean commercial expansion resulted in the exploitation of natural resources of Mapuche communities. Specially the activities like forestry, hydroelectric†¦show more content†¦The Mapuche community has knocked the door of many authorities to let their grievances be addressed, and justice be provided. They have made many protests but all fell on the deaf ears of concerned authoritie s. Their appeal and protest is based on retaining ancestral lands, concerns over environmental and social impacts, and the secrecy of all process. Despite all protests of local communities, ENDESA and IFC were initially reluctant to consider the demands of the Mapuche people. Even the audit reports of DR Downing, an anthropologist hired by IFC, about the social and environmental impacts and weakness of the project were not fully publicized as it found substantial evidence that the Pehuen foundation has failed to compensate all affected people adequately. Lately, because of the international pressure and fear of losing credibility IFC server notice to ENDESA that failure to meet the environmental conditions of loan would result in declaration of a default. ENDESA made a smarter move and repaid IFC amount by securing funds from a German private development bank. Side by side, Mr Downing filed three back to back human rights violations complaints on the grounds of intentional and willful violation of human and civil rights of the community. Other inquires were also conducted by Worlds Bank inspection panel, AAA Committee for human rights (CfHR). Both concluded that IFC refusal to release