Two watchdog organizations have published reports criticizing the damaging effects of the Camisea gas pipeline on the environment and indigenous peoples. The Office of People’s Defenders, a Peruvian watchdog group, published "The Camisea Project and Its Effects on the Rights of People" within two days of the release of California-based group E-Tech International’s report on the causes and effects of the five major leaks that have occurred along the pipeline since it began operating in July 2005. The most recent leak occurred on March 6. The pipeline passes directly through indigenous territory in the Amazon, connecting to wells in a reserve established for the previously isolated Nahua-Kugapakori peoples in southern Peru. The People’s Defenders say that the basic rights of the indigenous communities along the pipeline have been violated and that pipeline workers have exposed them to potentially devastating diseases such as syphilis, influenza, diarrhea, and respiratory illness. The reports come as the Peruvian government begins its investigation into the cause of the leaks and their ensuing effects on indigenous communities. According to Inter Press Service, E-Tech has asked the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which funded the project, to reconsider its support, but IDB has refused to conduct a rapid review of the project, calling the E-Tech report inconclusive.
