Permanent Sovereignty and Peoples' Ownership of Natural Resources in International Law
2006; Routledge; Volume: 38; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1534-9977
Autores Tópico(s)International Development and Aid
ResumoIn the dilapidated Portuguese cocoa plantation houses in Agua Ize, Sao Tome, and Principe, residents gather under a rotting roof to avoid the rain. Above their heads, offering a tantalising glimpse of a world beyond the surrounding dank disrepair, an old election campaign poster hints at the country's anticipated oil boom. It is now! says the propaganda of the opposition Party of Democratic Convergence, pledging better sharing of resources. Domingas da Costa Frota Pereira, an unemployed mother of three children, looks up and laughs: They would put the money in their own pockets, she says.1 I. INTRODUCTION A pressing and perplexing problem throughout the world today is the inability of many countries to convert valuable natural resources into an enhanced standard of living for their citizens. Many scholars have begun to look at this problem as a resource curse, a phenomenon denoting an inverse relationship between endowment with natural resources and economic growth.2 However, leadership curse more aptly describes the predicament of these countries, whereby kleptocratic rulers cause a wake of thieving frenzy, a cascade of catastrophes. This Article's introductory quote captures the ugly scenario that displays the defining characteristics of many resource-rich countries, with those in political offices working hard to ensure that the rest of the population receives almost no benefit from the resources with which their countries have been abundantly endowed. The contrast between real life and the original dream of placing in the hands of peoples and nations the right to the natural resources found in their territories could not be much starker. This Article examines the origins of the principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources (PSNR) in international law with the goal of using PSNR as a tool to empower and benefit people, rather than a vehicle for their immiseration or the glorification of a handful of rulers. A few decades ago, the notion of permanent sovereignty over natural resources became a source of great controversy, generating highly polemical debate among international legal scholars, representatives of developed and developing countries, and multinational oil corporations.3 Those favoring sovereignty of developing countries over their resources envisioned resources as a catalyst for economic development.4 Yet fifty years have passed since the concept of permanent sovereignty over natural resources entered the international legal lexicon,5 and the developing countries that pressed for this idea-or in whose interest it was championed-remain mired in economic doldrums; their predicted integration into the international economic system is far from truly materializing.6 The subsistence of this predicament traces to the fact that rulers of developing countries have apparently interpreted PSNR as conferring ownership of their nations' resources on themselves, thereby perceiving a license to corner the countries' wealth where none exists. Kleptocratic rulers in many parts of the world have robbed their countries dry, derailing or stunting economic progress in the process.7 For instance, recently deposed Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein is believed to have personalized a portion of Iraqi oil wealth by allegedly stashing billions of dollars in foreign banks and businesses.8 Likewise, Nigeria's military strong man, General Sani Abacha allegedly transferred billions out of his country's treasury and deposited it in several safe havens abroad before he died in office.9 Equatorial Guinea started exporting oil in 1996, but press accounts indicate that within only seven years of shipping oil abroad, the country's ruler, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, had already diverted about $300 million into a U.S. bank account directly under his control. Mbasogo enjoys a lavish lifestyle while the vast majority of his country's 500,000 people languish in economic prisons and wallow in abject poverty. …
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