In early November, Elsa Nury Martínez, Chair of the National Agricultural Union Federation in Colombia (FENSUAGRO) and member of the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organisations (CLOC-Via Campesina), received death threats against her and her family. These threats came from the ‘Black Eagles’ narco-paramilitary group (Águilas Negras - Bloque Capital), who singled out the peasant leader as a military target…
Golfrid Siregar, member of the legal advocacy team of WALHI North Sumatra was found unconscious on a roadside on 3 October 2019, and died three days later in hospital. Despite being found fatally injured under very suspicious circumstances, the police said that his death was the result of a traffic accident. “Last year, the police held a press conference regarding…
Mama Fikile Ntshangase was shot dead at her home in Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal province, by four gunmen on 22 October. She was Vice-Chairperson of a sub-committee of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation (MCEJO) and actively opposed the expansion of the Tendele coal mine near her home. “We feel that she was actually the target, and in killing her, the aim…
As of Friday morning, Joe Biden had secured 253 electoral votes of the 270 needed to win the Electoral College, with Donald Trump at 214. But in the last few hours, Trump turned to the courts to stop the vote count, tweeting "Stop the Count" and refusing to acknowledge his electoral defeat. Meanwhile, the major media cut off the livestream…
The Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group that is negotiating a Binding Treaty on transnational corporations and human rights at the United Nations Human Rights Council ended its sixth round of negotiations on 30 October in Geneva, Switzerland. According to the social movements and organizations from all continents that are working for its adoption, the Binding Treaty should seek to ensure access to justice…
This first article, of a series of three, analyzes the current sociopolitical situation. We will share our vision of what kind of environmental management is proposed by the current government. In a second article, we will analyze some of the proposals and policies that the government has followed or put into practice. Finally, the third article will talk about real…
“I'm absolutely sure that our resistance was one of the big factors that made them realise that this was not going to happen” said activist Lena Maloney from Friends of the Earth Sweden in an interview with Real World Radio. “They might have been able to expand their oil refinery if there had been less uproar,” added the environmental activist…
This was the title of a virtual press conference held on Tuesday which urged States to engage to put an end to the impunity of transnational corporations. The press conference (a recording of which is available below) - hosted by the Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity - took place after the start of…
With 78% of votes, the Chilean people have opted to change the current Constitution, which has been in force since 1980 under Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. The same percentage of people supported doing this through a Constituent Convention (instead of a mixed convention), whose candidates will be elected on 11 April 2021. From that moment on, the convention will have almost…
After the coup d´Etat against Evo Morales' re-election in November 2019, there were high hopes that these presidential elections in October 2020 would reinstate democracy in Bolivia. 48 hours before the vote, the Argentinian delegation that traveled to Bolivia to act as international observers denounced the illegal detention of lawmaker Federico Fagioli and the generalised violence they received from officials…
