Oil multinational TotalEnergies, with the support of the Human Rights Department at its headquarters, is promoting a series of awareness-raising sessions on human rights in Mozambique, focusing on the northern province of Cabo Delgado, where it is developing a natural gas exploration project.
Last week, the company, through TotalEnergies EP Mozambique Área 1 Limitada, operator of the Mozambique LNG project, organised this type of session in the cities of Maputo, Pemba and the town of Palma, the last two locations in Cabo Delgado.
In a press release, TotalEnergies explains that these initiatives follow on from others organised in 2022, which “were attended by the Company’s employees, partners implementing the Company’s socio-economic projects in Cabo Delgado, public and private institutions, international organisations, civil society organisations and multilateral cooperation partners in the country.”
“The sessions focused on TotalEnergies’ approach to human rights and on aspects related to human rights and labour, human rights and local communities, and human rights and security,” the company said in a statement sent to AIM today.
According to the note, the sessions included discussions on identifying potential synergies between different actors to address current challenges and take advantage of existing opportunities for greater promotion of human rights in Cabo Delgado.
The permanent secretary of the Palma district, Laurinda Luciano, considers the sessions on human rights to be very important.
“Together, and in coordination between the government, the population and the Mozambique LNG project, we can extend human rights issues to all the communities in the district,” she said.
For her part, TotalEnergies’ Vice President for Human Rights, Carine Coudeville, reaffirmed “TotalEnergies’ strong commitment to respecting human rights in its activities and to contributing to the well-being of people for responsible and sustainable business development wherever it operates.”
Regarding the business in Cabo Delgado, Coudeville said that the realisation of human rights is only possible through a collaborative effort between all stakeholders, both at national and local level.
“We will therefore, together with our subsidiary in Mozambique, continue to join synergies with stakeholders to pursue this endeavour,” said Coudeville, quoted in the statement.
Laila Chilemba, vice-president for Public Affairs and External Communications at TotalEnergies EP Mozambique Area 1 Limitada, said that “the company will continue to strengthen its links with all stakeholders in the country in order to further realise its human rights commitments.”
“We will continue to work in the light of Mozambican legislation and the various international principles that the Company applies, which include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the principles set out in the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organisation, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights,” she assured.
Ivete Mafundza Espada, Human Rights Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mozambique, said: “We’ve been working with various companies to raise awareness about business and human rights”.
“We are here to convey the issue of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and ensure that this information reaches the companies,” he said.
“We are very pleased to see that this company [TotalEnergies EP Mozambique Area 1] and several others in Mozambique have human rights policies and are developing internal capacity in this area. It is to be encouraged and given every strength to continue to do so,” he praised.
The Mozambique LNG project is the first onshore development of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the country. The project includes the development of the Golfinho and Atum fields, located in Area 1 Offshore, and the construction of a plant with two liquefaction units with a capacity of 13.12 million tonnes per year (MTPA).
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