Defenders of Territories and Collective Rights of the People


RECORD NUMBER OF LAND CONFLICTS IN BRAZIL IN 2019

Throughout 2019, the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) recorded 1833 conflicts in the countryside (averaging five per day), 23% more than in 2018. This is the highest number on CPT records in the past five years. There was also a 14% increase in the number of murders (from 28 to 32), 7% more attempted murders (from 28 to 30), and 22%…

The peasant struggle amid the COVID-19 pandemic

April 17, International Day of Peasants' Struggle, is a special day celebrated by rural organizations around the world, usually with demonstrations, conferences, demands addressed to governments, and other activities. But of course, this year, the COVID-19 pandemic is severely limiting the room for action. For this reason, the international peasant movement La Vía Campesina, which gathers local rural organizations at…

World March of Women commemorates Palestinian Land Day

Today, the World March of Women (WMW) remembered: "On March 30, 1976, the Israeli army attacked demonstrators in the midst of a strike organized by Palestinians in Galilee in the face of another advance of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory. Six people were killed, hundreds wounded. Since then this is Palestinian Land Day — the day when Palestinians remember…

Meeting for new UN framework to protect biodiversity to be held in Italy

Environmental federation Friends of the Earth International reaffirms its concern over the lack of ambition in the new framework currently under negotiation at the UN, which will set the basis for the protection of biodiversity globally from 2020 to 2030. A Friends of the Earth International delegation will participate in the second meeting of the Open Ended Working Group of…

La Via Campesina to hold Solidarity Mission in Venezuela

La Vía Campesina (LVC) will hold an International Solidarity Mission in Venezuela from 20-27 January, with the aim of showing the everyday life of Venezuelan people suffering from the impacts of the US blockade, and how they are facing this with creativity, solidarity and resistance. The Ezequiel Zamora National Peasant Front (FNCEZ) of the Bolivar and Zamora Revolutionary Current will…

No deal on carbon market at COP25

The COP25 negotiations came to an end after breaking the record: from December 2 to 14th. To get no deal on carbon markets at COP25 in Madrid has been Friends of the Earth's big fight this week, because carbon markets devastate Indigenous Peoples, Southern communities and fuel climate chaos. But they warned: "It's not the end of the fight; we…

Sentences of up to 50 years for Berta Cáceres’ murderers

The ruling came 45 months after Berta’s murder. The seven men had been convicted as the direct perpetrators of her murder on November 29, 2018. “The Honduras Sentencing Court sentenced the seven men guilty of the murder of Berta Isabel Cáceres to 30 and 34 years in prison, and for four of them an additional 16 years and 4 months for attempted…

10th anniversary of the murder of Mariano Abarca: the pain continues

November 27, 2019, marked the 10th anniversary of the murder of Mariano Abarca Roblero, environmental activist who defended human rights and the rights of nature in Chicomuselo municipality, Chiapas, Mexico, by denouncing the socioenvironmental effects caused by Canadian mining corporation Blackfire Exploration, involved in the crime. Since then, the relatives of Abarca and several organizations have been demanding the Mexican…

Historic national strike in Colombia: millions of people take to the streets

Thursday´s national strike in Colombia was one of the largest in the recent history of the country. Protests continued on Friday, in a spontaneous way. Millions of people took to the streets on Thursday in Colombia against the package of measures implemented by President Iván Duque. While demonstrations in Bogota, the capital city of the country, were massive, social organizations…