Published On:Monday, September 28, 2009
Mines, like this one in a Phoenix residential community, often interfere with sacred cultural lands of indigenous people who do not benefit from the wealth of these operations, according to Oxfam America.(Devin Creer The State Press)Oxfam Club at ASU is calling on students to push its “Right to Know, Right to Decide” campaign and join the fight to reduce world poverty levels.
Around the globe, thousands of people in poor countries lose their land to oil, gas and mining companies and often don’t benefit from the profits these companies make, according to the Oxfam America Web site.
Oxfam is an international human-rights activist group, with a student chapter at ASU. The 15-member Oxfam Club at ASU is scheduled to host two guest speakers on the issue Tuesday night.
Nonprofit management sophomore Regina Duran, president of the club, got involved with Oxfam America after participating in its CHANGE initiative, a national program that trains college students to become effective global leaders.
“I decided to start the club because there was nothing like it here in Arizona, let alone at ASU,” Duran said.
A bill in Congress called the Energy Securities through Transparency Act would require oil, mining and gas companies to publicly disclose payments made to foreign governments.
Sarah Pray, the U.S. coordinator of Publish What You Pay, an organization pushing awareness for the transparency act, said she’s feeling positive about the outlook for the bill this year.
“In the U.S., we’ve been working really hard for the past five years to get this type of bill passed,” she said.
If passed, the bill would allow people to have a voice in how the money is used and give citizens the opportunity to hold the government accountable, according to the Oxfam America Web site.
Both guest speakers, Sadia Hameed, lead organizer of Extractive Industries for Oxfam America, and Solinn Lim, program coordinator for Oxfam’s East Asia region in Cambodia, will discuss the importance of the bill and its effect on human rights.
The money that the companies make needs to benefit the alleviation of poverty or other similar uses, Pray said.
“If we want to make sure that people living around the world see the benefits from the sale of their precious natural resources, then we need to get some transparency,” she said.
Oxfam America and six other organizations concerned with reform in the oil, gas and mining industries joined together at an international conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to discuss the way contracts between companies and governments are regulated.
The Energy Securities through Transparency Act was introduced to Congress on the same day by five U.S. senators.
Sustainability sophomore and secretary of the Oxfam Club at ASU Kati Long said this issue affects all people even if they don’t realize it.
“Things we do every day involves gas or oil, and none of us know the fact that 20 percent of our oil comes from places where people don’t get anything for what they’re working for,” she said.
After the guest speaker session, future Oxfam Club at ASU events will include a poetry slam and possibly a hunger banquet, which illustrates global hunger.
Duran said by increasing knowledge about these issues, students at ASU could help make a difference worldwide.
“We’re seen as global leaders and that’s what [President Michael] Crow wants us to be,” said Duran. “This is a great opportunity for everyone at ASU to represent and make an impact globally.”
Reach the reporter at devin.creer@asu.edu.
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