Defenders of Territories and Collective Rights of the People


Free Rivers, Living Peoples

The meeting is taking place in Barrancabermeja, a city located in Santander Department. During its first day, 400 people arrived, among them members of the six national delegations of Ríos Vivos and international representatives. The national delegations are: Asprocig (of Bajo Sinú region), Asoquimbo (Huila), Social Movement for the Defense of Sogamoso and Chucurí Rivers (Santander), Ríos Vivos Movement Cauca,…

New peasant victory at UN

With 33 votes in favor by the countries present at the 39th round of sessions, the UNHRC passed a resolution in Geneva, Switzerland, to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants that will now be discussed at the General Assembly of the multilateral body. The General Assemby needs to make a final decision before the end of the year…

It´s time for Peasants´ Rights

Ana María Suárez Franco, permanent representative of FIAN International in Geneva, Switzerland shares an update on the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and its process of approval at the UN´s Human Rights Council that is expected on Friday September 28. “To protect, respect and fulfil the rights of peasants”, who defend territories, is the aim of the Declaration, which…

Where are the 43 students? 4 years after Ayotzinapa

Today, September 26th, marks the fourth anniversary of the disappearance of the 43 students of the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers School in Iguala, Guerrero, while they were on their way to Mexico City to participate in the mobilization of October 2nd to commemorate the Tlateloco Massacre that took place in 1968. A day before the fourth anniversary of the…

Unfit

The family of Berta Cáceres and their legal representatives filed an action on Monday to disqualify the judges that are hearing the case of the murder of the Honduran defender. This resulted in the suspension of the hearing. In a press conference held on Monday 17, minutes before the first hearing over the murder of the Lenca defender, Berta Cáceres,…

Standing Strong

Thousands of demonstrators are marching from different areas of the country and heading to the Guatemalan Congress building to demand the resignation of President Jimmy Morales, and the continuation of the International Commission against Corruption in Guatemala (CICIG) that has been investigating acts of corruption in the government since 2017. Real World Radio interviewed Lucía Ixchiu, independent k'iché journalist who…

CHALLENGING THE LEGAL SYSTEM

The trial over the femicide of Berta Cáceres will begin on Monday, September 17, in Tegucigalpa (Honduras). The crime against the defender took place on the night of March 2nd, 2016, at her home in La Esperanza, Intibucá department. Bertha Zúñiga, daughter of Cáceres and current coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), spoke…

Justice for Berta

Berta Cáceres, a defender of the Lenca people, was murdered on March 2nd, 2016, at her home in La Esperanza, Intibucá department, 200 kilometers North-West to the Honduran capital city. Her murder took place in the framework of an ongoing and systematic repression suffered by those who defend their territories and human rights in Honduras, especially since the coup d´Etat…

In the eye of the storm

A special report by the United Nations Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous People, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, warns about a common pattern of attack against indigenous peoples at global level by governments in alliance with transnational investment projects related to the sectors of extractive industries, agribusiness, infrastructure, hydroelectric dams and logging, which is displacing the communities from their territories. “I’ve been…

Being a defender in Central America

Marta Rivas was born 29 years ago in a settlement for Salvadoran refugees in Honduras known as “Mesa Grande”, where she lived with hundreds of children who grew up during the armed conflict that took place in El Salvador from 1980 to 1992. She was named after her community: Santa Marta, located in Cabañas department, to the North of her…