Defenders of Territories and Collective Rights of the People


David Castillo: Corruption and violence in Honduras

After 42 months of the political femicide of Berta Cáceres in Honduras, and while people await the definitive ruling against the seven men accused as the perpetrators of the crime  and the beginning of the trial against David Castillo as one of the masterminds, the organization that was coordinated by the late Lenca indigenous leader (COPINH) launched a report that exposes…

BlackRock invests in burning the Amazon

“As fires rage across the Amazon, a report released today reveals that BlackRock, the world’s largest institutional investor with $6.5 trillion USD in assets, is deeply invested in the sectors most responsible for tropical forest destruction in the Amazon and around the world”, reads a press release issued by Friends of the Earth US about the new report. The report BlackRock’s Big…

System change is urgently needed to face serious biodiversity crisis

“If we keep on allowing that those who defend the environment actually get killed, we can never hope to save the environment”, said environmental activist Nele Marien, of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), a few hours before the beginning on Tuesday of an important meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD) that will take place…

CONCERN OVER INCURSION OF ARMED GROUPS IN GARIFUNA TERRITORY

The Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) denounced in its social media accounts that on Wednesday several armed men entered the Garifuna community of Vallecito, Department of Colon, harassing the inhabitants. The organization warns that this territory has been experiencing increasing threats and militarization in the past weeks. These lands have an immeasurable economic value and are located in a…

Threats and abuses of the growing gas industry in Mozambique

Mozambique is rapidly becoming one of the Liquified natural gas (LNG) giants of the world. With little international media coverage, oil and gas monsters such as Exxon, Eni, Chevron, Shell and BP are rubbing their hands at the million dollar business prospects in this African country. Ongoing projects, whilst still in their exploration and construction stages, are already displacing local…

Black women´s lives matter

Feminism has to be antipatriarchal, anticapitalist and antiracist. Since 1992, July 25 marks the International Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean and Diaspora Women's Day. The commemoration of this day was decided at the first meeting of Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean and Diaspora Women. Today, Real World Radio wants to highlight the voices and struggles of Afro-descendant and black women, defenders of the peoples…

Hard blow for communities suffering human rights violations at global level

“The attempts to establish the supremacy of human rights over corporate logic are not covered in the entire text of the Draft 1”, warned Brazilian expert Manoela Roland about the new document presented by the Ecuadorian Chair in UN negotiations for a legally binding treaty on transnational corporations and human rights. “In addition, the scope of the future treaty has…

Land Rights Revolution in Liberia

After many months of debate and with a strong support from the public opinion, the Liberian government passed the Land Rights Act in September, 2018, which officially recognizes the rights of local communities over their productive lands, without the need of long entitlement proceedings. With this huge step, Liberia could promote deep land and forest reforms in Central and Western…

African youth for system change

The lives of human rights defenders in Africa are seriously threatened. For example, in Cameroon, on 26 May, human rights defender Elvis Brown Luma Mukuna received a death threat via a call from an unknown number. Ten days earlier, two men had forcibly entered Elvis’s house, abducted his younger brother and tortured him for more than two hours. Faced with…

Honduran voices against Juan Orlando Hernández demand his removal

At the end of May, Juan Orlando Hernández´ administration announced several reforms aiming to privatize services, through the passing of the Law of Restructuring and Transformation of the National Education and Healthcare System. So people took to the streets once against in Tegucigalpa against the threat of massive dismissals of doctors and teachers and to denounce the general state of…