Activist Alejandra Porras, of COECOCEIBA – Friends of the Earth Costa Rica, said on Thursday in Geneva, at the UN headquarters in that city, that in Latin America there is “a wave of international treaties that confer many benefits to companies, and this gives way to looting, criminalization and prosecution processes” against local communities.
There are also “murders in the communities of the region, because these companies want to grab the common natural resources that allow us to subsist every day and that we will take care of”, highlighted Alejandra in the framework of the fourth round of negotiations for a binding treaty on transnational corporations and human rights taking place at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Meanwhile, Alberto Villarreal, of REDES – Friends of the Earth Uruguay, warned that “the interventions by the countries at the negotiations in many cases aim to weaken even further what we consider an extremely weak draft zero”.
Alberto and Alejandra are part of Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (ATALC) and are members of the delegation of Friends of the Earth International present in Geneva to push for the advance and subsequent approval of a binding treaty that forces transnational corporations to respect human rights.