SOAS Research Online

Abstract

As the planning for South America's largest natural gas project, the Camisea Project, in Peru progressed, meanwhile at over fifty universities in the United States students were holding demonstrations to protest the involvement of Citigroup, the commercial and investment bank, in this and other infrastructure projects. Natural gas extraction and distribution was a surprising lightning rod for non-violent action. However, perhaps the alleged potential negative impact of the project on the rainforest and indigenous groups of the region goes some way to explain things. Such protests were a part of a larger movement to target public and private financial institutions involved in financing infrastructure projects. This and other protests targeting the Camisea Project have succeeded in eliciting concessions and policy changes by the major players who underwrite and participate in the project. However, despite successes and mutual agreements between protesters and project planners about how an infrastructure project should be carried out, questions still persist as to what is the appropriate human rights standard and also how should a human rights standard be implemented in the context of a specific project. This article seeks to provide an institutional solution as an answer to these outstanding questions' the creation of a United Nations-based Human Rights Unit for infrastructure projects that will set standards for projects and monitor compliance with those standards.