Ana María Suárez Franco, permanent representative of FIAN International in Geneva, Switzerland shares an update on the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and its process of approval at the UN´s Human Rights Council that is expected on Friday September 28. “To protect, respect and fulfil the rights of peasants”, who defend territories, is the aim of the Declaration, which…
This day is to “mark the struggle against monoculture tree plantations, to celebrate the struggles at global level which have succeeded in stopping the advance of monocultures or in exposing their impacts or highlighting that monoculture tree plantations are not something positive, as the public opinion is told in order to justify industrial land grabbing actions and strong environmental, social…
Friends of the Earth Togo welcomed on September 7th the decision made by the government to ban the use of glyphosate on national territory, and urged to promote agroecology and organic farming. In addition, a few weeks ago, Togolese MPs passed a law on the production of electricity based on renewable energy sources. In order to better understand these two…
The World Trade Organization (WTO) together with a set of free trade agreements, reciprocal protection of investments, multilateral and bilateral agreements have created criminal levels of inequality in global economy, stated the peasant federation to mark the Global Day of Action against the WTO and Free Trade Agreements on September 10. “Global bodies such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO),…
The trial over the femicide of Berta Cáceres will begin on Monday, September 17, in Tegucigalpa (Honduras). The crime against the defender took place on the night of March 2nd, 2016, at her home in La Esperanza, Intibucá department. Bertha Zúñiga, daughter of Cáceres and current coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), spoke…
At 9.30 am today, August 8, the Argentinian Senate started debating a bill to legalize abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. This moment arrives after years of struggle by the National Campaign for Safe, Free and Legal Abortion that raised the debate in National Women Meetings, in public spheres, educational centers and the media. Before this vote, seven…
The negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), involving 16 Asia-Pacific countries, are failing international standards of transparency and public participation, according to a study titled “RCEP: A secret deal” conducted by several international organizations. “It is quite shocking how representatives of the governments are able to hide behind secrecy, saying that it is necessary for effective negotiations” said…
In an interview with Real World Radio, Mauro Vay, founder and General Coordinator of the Peasant Development Committee (CODECA) said that the kidnapping, torture and murder of Juana Raymundo “is a sign of what we´ve been denouncing for quite some time: we are under a criminal government”. “The Ministry of Government plans extrajudicial killings against all human rights defenders, because…
It´s been a year since Santiago Maldonado disappeared and was subsequently found dead. Maldonado was an Argentinian young man who worked in solidarity with the Mapuche people, struggling to recover their ancestral lands that were acquired by business magnate Luciano Benetton. On August 1st, 2017, Maldonado disappeared after the Argentinian security forces violently repressed demonstrators at the Pu Lof community…
Milieudefensie – Friends of the Earth Netherlands launched a report where they warn that Dutch Banks ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank have to take responsibility for the disastrous environmental and social consequences of providing finance to the palm oil sector at large scale. These banks should pull out of this sector, demands the organization. "What we wanted to show is…
