The Human Right to Water

The National summit on the human right to water was held in Nigeria from 29-30 January 2019, to share community fights against the corporate control of water, resisting privatization and to ensure universal access to water in Africa and around the world. Environmental Rights Action (ERA) - Friends of the Earth Nigeria co-organised the event in the Nigerian capital, Abuja,…

A Just Transition is Needed Now*

Dear President Cyril Ramaphosa This is the last action I am undertaking before groundWork closes for 2018. groundWork believes a Just Transition is urgently needed and that you need to be at the forefront of this as leader of the country to prevent a transition that will cripple South Africa and destroy the promise of democracy. The recent Intergovernmental Panel…

Lights and Shadows

With certain advances in the recognition of the role of indigenous people and local communities in terms of the conservation of biological diversity, the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity came to an end in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Nevertheless, some environmental organizations are worried about the role of corporations in the official…

Access to Justice

Mageswari Sangaralingam, member of SAM – Friends of the Earth Malaysia, warned on Friday that in Asia there are communities affected by corporate crimes, and that the victims, especially of transnational corporations, don´t have access to justice. “So where do you go to access justice if there is a problem of environmental issue or human rights violations?”, when the existing…

EU must be constructive and accept conclusions of this week´s negotiations

“We really call upon the European Union to be constructive, to support the conclusions and make sure that next year we are here to take the next step in this important United Nations treaty that will protect human rights,” activist Ike Teuling, from Friends of the Earth Europe, told Real World Radio on Friday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZSK3vhfbLk&feature=youtu.be “So the last thing that…

Starting Over

In the past few hours, different international media have reported about the end of the rescue works  after the terrible earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck the central region of the Indonesian island of Celebes (also known as Sulawesi), on September 28th. The official death toll nears 2000. There are 10,000 injured people and around 5000 remain missing. After the…

Open Letter to the Member States of the United Nations*

Re: Publication of the “Zero Draft” text for the negotiation of a Legally Binding Instrument to Regulate, in International Human Rights Law, the activities of Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and other Business Enterprises. (1) We welcome the recent publication of the “Zero Draft” text for the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on Transnational Corporations (TNCs) with regard to human rights…

We cannot be celebrating

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. However, “we cannot be celebrating”. The planet is facing serious environmental degradation, and the necessary measures to counteract it are not being taken, warned activist Rita Uwaka with Environmental Rights Action - Friends of the Earth Nigeria. The environmentalist, who is part of the steering group…