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These potential violations worry Steve Heim, managing director of Boston Asset Management, a longtime investor in Google. Google is currently preparing to buy Vestas\u2019 12,5 percent share of the wind project for approximately 40 million dollars.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Danwatch\u2019s report should make Google seriously reconsider its plans to buy out Vestas. Google shouldn\u2019t be associated with violations of indigenous peoples\u2019 rights in Lake Turkana,\u201d says Heim.<\/p>\n
In addition to his role at Boston Asset Management, Heim is also an expert in the rights of indigenous peoples. He is a former member of the UN Global Compact\u2019s Expert Advisory Group, which authored the Business Reference Guide for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems to be clear in this case that land was actually given away without anyone being asked. The investors \u2013 for example, the large Danish government actors and other agencies \u2013 have not made sure there was free, prior and informed consent from the affected communities. They could have made other decisions,\u201d Hein says.<\/p>\n
Leaked investor letter to Google CEO<\/h4>\n
The leaked letter obtained by Danwatch was sent by Sonen Capital, a firm that seeks to use its investments to create positive social and environmental impacts, to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.<\/p>\n
In the letter, dated November 9, 2015, thirty-eight investors express their unease over reports of human rights violations in connection with the Lake Turkana Wind Power project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are deeply concerned by reports of violence, displacement and environmental damage associated with Lake Turkana Wind Power project (\u2026) In particular, we are seeking a deeper understanding of Google\u2019s process for ensuring free, prior and informed consent within indigenous communities impacted by Google\u2019s suppliers or by its own projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The energy project has been underway for almost a decade, requiring the building of a 200-kilometre road in Northern Kenya and the resettlement of the village of Sarima. Despite its status as a flagship project for the Uhuru Kenyatta government, as well as Kenya\u2019s biggest private investment ever, the consortium seemingly failed to comply with international guidelines before work began.<\/p>\n
According to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, projects are required to conduct a consultation before the process of land acquisition begins; this is known as the concept of free, prior and informed consent. However, in the case of the Lake Turkana Wind Power project, no consultations took place prior to 2007, even though the consortium submitted its application for the land lease in 2006.<\/p>\n
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Same year, the consortium sent its land lease application to the Marsabit County Council in Northern Kenya, requesting 100,000 acres of land, and later increasing its request by an additional 50,000 acres. At that moment, if not earlier, the local government ought to have initiated public consultations. According to UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, if the state fails to undertake consultations, the responsibility to do so falls to the company.<\/p>\n
The first documentation of public consultations dates from 2007. \u00a0Despite the consortium\u2019s claims that it complied with international guidelines, it has not been able to produce documentation of public consultations that took place prior to 2007, which means that it seems to have failed to live up to the UN requirements for over a year.<\/p>\n
Kenya does not recognise the UN\u2019s concept of indigenous peoples. Still, the land question is now in court. The affected communities say that their local government and the wind power project failed to consult them as required by Kenyan law. The accused parties deny all these claims.<\/p>\n
Consortium: The tribes are not indigenous people<\/h4>\n
Another worrisome issue involves the recognition of the tribes. Whether or not the tribes are recognised as indigenous people is highly significant, because it determines what rights they have with respect to the wind project.<\/p>\n
Experts on human rights, the Kenyan government, and the consortium are divided on this question.<\/p>\n
Three international experts on the rights of indigenous people interviewed by Danwatch for the report\u00a0A People in the Way of Progress\u00a0<\/i>have unanimously agreed that all four tribes in the area around Lake Turkana should be defined as indigenous people. Their argument is that the tribes have lived off the land in the area for generations.<\/p>\n
Although the 2010 Kenyan Constitution specifically recognises the rights of minorities and marginalised communities, it does not recognise the concept of indigenous peoples. In 2011, the consortium completed an Indigenous Peoples Policy Framework as required by the World Bank in order to be in compliance with the bank\u2019s guidelines, known as IFC Performance Standards. \u00a0The consortium concluded in that framework report that there were no indigenous peoples in the project-affected area.<\/p>\n
\u201cProject screening and Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA) have been undertaken, and Indigenous Peoples (\u2026) have not been identified within the footprint of the Project.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the consortium, the only indigenous peoples in the project area are the El Molo, but because they live 70 km away from the wind farm, the project determined that they are not affected by it. The three other local tribes \u2013 Rendille, Samburu and Turkana \u2013 are not recognised by the consortium as indigenous peoples, even though they were recognised as such by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in 2006.<\/p>\n
This makes the rights of indigenous peoples the second question on trial in the conflict between the Lake Turkana Wind Power project, the government and the local communities.<\/p>\n
The people in the following photos live by the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya. They consider themselves as indigenous people. The consortium and the Kenyan government do not agree with them. Experts in human rights criticise the consortium and government.<\/p>\n\n\t\t