Action Alert - Jabiluka

Peace Movement Aotearoa

While mining proceeds at Jabiluka to a point where the Boyweg-Almudj Sacred Site Complex is in imminent danger, the Australian Government has planned a million dollar strategy to keep Kakadu National Park off UNESCO's list of 'World Heritage in Danger'.

Environmentalists have vowed to fight this.

You may remember that last year, in part as a result of letters and faxes sent by all of you on this list to the World Heritage Committee, that body decided to put Kakadu on the list of 'World Heritage in Danger'.

However, the Australian Government was given six months in which to refute the report of the WHC inspection team, advising that it be placed on the 'in Danger' list.

The Australian Government is supposed to produce its response to the inspection team report by thursday, April 15th.

The Australian Government response will then be subjected to an international peer review.

In the meantime, mining operations at Jabiluka are approaching perilously close to the Boyweg-Almudj Sacred Site Complex.

(More details and a statement on this matter are expected from the Mirrar People tomorrow.)

Following the presentation of the Australian Governments response to the WHC report, it will be reviewed for a month, closing May 15th.

A final decision will be taken in July after meetings of the World Heritage Bureau and the World Heritage Committee in Paris.

The Australian Government has allocated a million dollars to lobbying to prevent the final inscription of Kakadu on the list of World Heritage in Danger as a result of uranium mining.

Portions of that money seem to be available for various forms of diplomatic arm- twisting, as well as the usual round of diplomatic cocktail parties and consultancies.

It seems likely that some nations on the World Heritage Committee will experience strong pressure to vote against the reccomendations of the WHC secretariat.

It is all the more essential that the World Heritage Committee and Bureau, and environment or other action ministers in WHC member countries get to hear from you.

We'll be making specific requests with fax numbers very soon, starting with requests that you fax action ministers in the WHC member countries, which are:

Australia, Benin, Brasil, Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Niger, Republic of Korea, Thailand, United States, Zimbabwe.

In the meantime, the fax number of the World Heritage Centre in Paris is 33-1-456-855-70.

Return to Stop Mining at Jabiluka.

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