Special Reports

Industrial monocultures in Honduras: conflict, landgrabbing and persecution of peasants and indigenous people

On the International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Tree Plantations, activist Sandra Escobar tells us a story of pain and joy, as peoples in Honduras struggle against the expansion of oil palm plantations and build alternatives together. Approximately 198,000 hectares of Honduras are planted with oil palm crops, representing almost 2% of the country’s land. Annually, it produces 2.4 million…

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Killing for land, struggling for life

The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) has launched their new annual report, entitled 'Conflicts in the Countryside - Brazil 2021'. Since 1985, the CPT has been recording the violence inflicted on peoples and communities in the Brazilian countryside, by landowners, mining and forestry companies, land speculators and businessmen. It also shows the negligence and complicity of the State. From 1985 to 2020,…

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Urgent consideration rights: the people from Uruguay must not endorse neoliberalism

On July 8, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Uruguayan Senate approved Law no. 19889, the Urgent Consideration Law (UCL), as is known the project presented by the right-wing coalition government led by Luis Lacalle Pou. The “urgent consideration” character meant that the content of the law had to be addressed within a maximum period of 90…

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What happened at the African Peoples Tribunal?

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…

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AN ATTEMPT TO RETRACE THE INTRICATE PATH OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF IMPUNITY

“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…

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PALESTINE: “WE DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL OF ISRAELI OCCUPATION FORCES”

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…

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What is going on with plastic waste in the Asia Pacific region?

“Asia is drowning in plastic,” says a new report from the Centre for Environmental Justice/Friends of the Earth Sri Lanka, launched in the wake of the 15th UN COP to the Basel Convention, which was held online from 26 to 30 July. The report, entitled “Breaking the Plastic Cycle in Asia”, exposes the reality of plastic waste dumping for people…

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Historic elections in Chile towards a new plurinational Constitution

Over the weekend, fruit of the popular struggle, the Chilean people elected their Constitutional Convention to draft a new Constitution to put an end to the one that has been in force since the Pinochet dictatorship. The event was divided into two days to comply with health protocols, and the results were historic. Simultaneously, regional governors, mayors and councilors were…

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Assessment of the sixth round of negotiations for the UN Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights

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…

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Agroecology in dispute: What’s behind the “transition towards sustainable agriculture” narrative?

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), the Transnational Institute of the Netherlands (TNI) and the Crocevia International Centre launched a publication entitled: “Junk Agroecology: The corporate capture of agroecology for a partial ecological transition without social justice.” The aim of the report is to “influence the just ecological transition debate in a way that ensures that we don´t end up…

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