Lawyer and human rights defender Glenda Ayala Mejía is the commissioner and president of the National Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Honduras (MNP-CONAPREV). Since the end of 2021, her and her family's physical integrity have been at risk after receiving a series of threats. Although Ayala has been working for the administration of…
The COVAX mechanism to distribute Covid-19 vaccines, mobile apps giving companies access to private data, biotechnology, language capture and alleged rights-based discourses — these are all examples of strategies used by transnational corporations to gain more power over global governance each day. In 2021, social movements defending Food Sovereignty warned about the strong influence exerted by agroindustrial corporations over the…
The African Peoples Tribunal (APT) that took place this year, after its first edition in November 2020, was developed by Friends of the Earth Africa, Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands), Friends of the Earth International, and Rainforest Action Network. This time, the APT took 10 cases, from 10 countries where Friends of the Earth has member groups, grassroots or…
“Today, peasants and farmers are facing extreme threats from the privatisation of seeds by intellectual property laws. In addition, seed marketing laws ban local and indigenous varieties which don’t fit the industrial model, restricting access and circulation. One institution is at the heart of this: the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).” Hence the call…
Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE) and Foe Brazil denounce in a report published early this year that the European Union (EU)-Mercosur trade deal will increase environmental disasters, in this case, by increasing the export of meat from Brazil to Europe through supply chains of transnational companies to supply major European retailers. This is happening “while deforestation skyrockets and Brazil…
The United Nations (UN) negotiations for a Binding Treaty to regulate human rights violations perpetrated by transnational corporations and enable victims to access justice “have taken a qualitative leap forward,” declared the Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity . Following the seventh round of negotiations hosted by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva from 25-29 October,…
Under the Israeli occupation, the Palestinian people have been denied access to and control over their land and natural resources, especially water, for decades. “Several studies estimate that the benefits for Israelis from natural resources in Palestinian territories amount to more than US$70 billion since 1967,” said the Chairperson of PENGON – Friends of the Earth Palestine, Dr. Abedelrahman Tamimi, in…
The new edition of the Meat Atlas, published on 7 September 2021 by Friends of the Earth Europe, Heinrich-Böll Stiftung and BUND/Friends of the Earth Germany, reveals the role of the meat industry in the health, biodiversity and climate crises and the impacts of meat production on people, particularly communities in the Global South. “The Meat Atlas is a publication…
“What we see at the international level and often at the national level is an imbalance between the rights of peoples and the rights of corporations,” warned environmental activist Sam Cossar-Gilbert, speaking about the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism in a recent webinar. ISDS is “a biased justice system, organised by private lawyers, not by judges, and it's a tool…
The Israeli blockade in Palestine has severe impacts on the daily lives of people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip: from blocking their access to water, to limiting their food sovereignty. Missile bombings over decades have damaged crop lands and wells, destroyed crops, killed hundreds of animals and deeply damaged artisanal fisheries. These were some of the impacts…
