Defenders of Territories and Collective Rights of the People


TEMBÉ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE FACE REPEATED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS IN PARÁ STATE, BRAZIL

Three leaders of the Tembé Indigenous People were shot on Monday in the Brazilian town of Tomé-Açu, situated in the state of Pará, 200 kilometres from the state capital Belém do Pará. The incident occurred during preparations for a visit from the National Human Rights Council. According to information from the Brazilian Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), the shots were fired…

Spotlight Philippines: A Year into the Marcos 2.0 Regime

June 30th marks the full circle of the first year under Philippine president Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr., son of previously deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. The Philippines is both a globally critical hotspot of biodiversity and natural resources, and a historic beacon of democracy and people power in Asia. But the environmental and human rights situation has deteriorated over the…

People affected by Chevron are not receiving due reparation by interference of the Ecuadorian State

Eleven years ago, the transnational oil company Chevron, formerly Texaco, received a historic sentence in Ecuador. It was forced by the justice of that country to pay a compensation of 9.5 billion dollars for the damages caused to indigenous communities and settlers in the provinces of Orellana and Sucumbíos in the Amazon region. This lawsuit was filed by the Union of…

RMR - Movilización en Tegucigalpa 2016

Honduras: At least eight socio-environmental defenders murdered in one month

A week into 2023, Jairo Bonilla and Alí Domínguez were murdered while working in Concepción, Colón Department, in Honduras, a few kilometres from their community, Guapinol. Both were defenders of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers, and the Botaderos National Park, also called Carlos Escaleras, the source of 34 bodies of water. 10 days later in the same region, Omar…

United Kingdom: Is this the death of Human Rights?

A series of highly repressive laws and decrees are threatening human rights and freedoms in the United Kingdom. The main concerns of civil society organisations include restrictions to the right to protest, discrimination and repression of ethnic minorities and the dismantling of the Human Rights Act. Real World Radio interviewed Denis Fernando, Rights and Justice Campaigner at Friends of the…

Positive for Corporations, Negative for Nature

At the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity taking place in Montreal, Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) has denounced the negotiations for the Global Biodiversity Framework, saying they are “captured” by transnational corporations and that the solutions on the table are actually false solutions. During a press conference held on Friday…

Protecting life in all its different forms

In a context where scientists state that the natural world is in a dire situation and that “human actions threaten more species with global extinction now than ever before,” the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is taking place in Montreal, Canada, from 7-19 December. There, governments will seek to agree…

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…

The road to agroecology in Sri Lanka

Before the Green Revolution came to Sri Lanka in the 1960s, with the imposition of modernised machinery, high yielding varieties, increased use of fertilisers and other agrochemical inputs, the country had an ecologically sustainable agricultural system. Farmers used mixed farming techniques and cultivated in a manner that protected the natural environment and human health. They maintained soil fertility through the…

How many more socio-environmental and human rights crimes until we say enough?

On 23 August, Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (ATALC) together with social movements and organisations from the region held a public event in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, to discuss the urgent need to agree an international legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and human rights. The goal is to gain the support of democratic governments…