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However, for all of the hope and tangible progress that the Rights of Nature articles represent, there are shortcomings and contradictions with the laws and the political reality on the ground. A fundamental flaw exists due to President Rafael Correa's refusal to include a clause mandating free, prior and informed consent by communities for development projects that would affect their local ecosystems. The new mining law, introduced by Correa and backed by Canadian companies, would allow for large-scale open-pit metal mining in pristine Andean highlands and Amazon rainforest. kidnapped and exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on February 29, 2004. Citizens have since been victimised by recurring massacres at the hands of MINUSTAH. The State Department's US Agency for International Development (USAID) provided funding for the base expansion—a very unorthodox use of development aid. Lawyer Evel Fanfan, the president of the Association of University Graduates Motivated for a Haiti with Rights (AUMOHD), says that about 155 buildings would be razed as the base expansion moves forward. As of March 2009, 80 homes have been demolished. 17. The ICC Facilitates US Covert War in Sudan 19. Bank Bail-out Recipients Spent to Defeat Labour The USA promoted the International Criminal Court's On October 17, 2008, three days after it received US$25 (ICC's) indictment of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir _ billion in federal bail-out funds, Bank of America hosted for war crimes in Darfur in order to justify continuing a conference call to organise opposition to the Employee western exploitation and military interventions in the Free Choice Act (EFCA). Participants, including the resource-rich region. insurer AIG, were urged to persuade their clients to send “America is an opportunist "large contributions" to groups country," said the Sudanese working against the EFCA as Ambassador to the UN, ...the new constitution well as to vulnerable Senate Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem d | h "h Republicans who could be used Mohamad, at a United Nations eclares that nature has o help block the passage of the pro-labour bill that would make it easier for employees to organise into unions. According to journalist Sam Stein, reform groups are sending etters to congressional committee chairs and the head of the Congressional Oversight marginalised in the region, in Panel, urging an investigation erms of both oil exploration and into whether bail-out recipients arms supplies, by China, which in recent years has __ used taxpayer money to benefit political candidates or become one of Sudan's closest political, economic and organisations. military allies. Mohamad said the US, UK and France arbour "a desire to revive their colonial dreams in 20. Secret Control of Presidential Debates Sudan”. The Obama and McCain campaigns jointly negotiated a The ICC was used in the strategy to turn world opinion _ detailed secret contract dictating the terms of the 2008 against al-Bashir and the government of Sudan and to debates. This included who got to participate, what urther divide and destabilise the region. The legitimacy _ topics were to be raised and the structure of the debates. of the Court is being questioned as it shows itself to be a Since 1987, a private corporation created by and for the ool of western hegemony. Republican and Democratic parties, called the press conference. "They want to the right to exist persist use the ICC without being a 2 y party to it.” When asked why his | Maintain and regenerate its country was being singled out, vital cycles, structure, he said that western nations are eyeing Sudan's newly discovered functions and its processes oil ches. in evolution". Western nations have been val Neaatdantial Nabate. vAnny Lan the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution". 20. Secret Control of Presidential Debates The Obama and McCain campaigns jointly negotiated a detailed secret contract dictating the terms of the 2008 debates. This included who got to participate, what topics were to be raised and the structure of the debates. Since 1987, a private corporation created by and for the Republican and Democratic parties, called the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), has sponsored the US presidential debates and implemented debate contracts. In order to shield the major party candidates from criticism, CPD has refused to release debate contract information to the public. Since the CPD took control, presidential debates have been primarily funded by corporate contributions. Multinationals with regulatory interests before Congress have donated millions of dollars to the CPD, and debate sites have become corporate carnivals where sponsoring companies market their products, services and political agendas. Frank Fahrenkopf and Paul Kirk, who co-chair and control the CPD, are registered lobbyists for multinational corporations. Author George Farah points 18. Ecuador's Constitutional Rights of Nature In September 2008, Ecuador became the first country to declare constitutional rights to nature, thus codifying a new system of environmental protection. Reflecting the beliefs and traditions of Ecuador's indigenous peoples, the new constitution declares that nature "has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution”. It redefines people's relationship with nature by asserting that nature is not an object to be appropriated and exploited but is a rights-bearing entity that should be treated with parity under the law. Ecuador's leadership may have a global domino effect. 18 *« NEXUS ...the new constitution declares that nature "has DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010 www.nexusmagazine.com