The 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) started on Saturday in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, under the theme “Investing in biodiversity for people and planet”. The event will take place through November 29th. Environmental activist Isaac Rojas, Friends of the Earth International´s Forests and Biodiversity program coordinator, who is present at the COP, warned that…
“It´s a sham” saying that the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is solving the serious socioenvironmental effects of this industry, said Nigerian environmental activist Rita Uwaka. “There are more environmental abuses, human rights abuses in countries where most of these RSPO certified companies exist”, she added. The annual conference of the RSPO is taking place from Monday to Thursday…
The resolutions and conclusions of the Intergovernmental Working Group submitted by Luis Gallegos, permanent representative of Ecuador at the UN and chair of the negotiations, were approved, but the representatives of the European Union were the only ones there who did not agree with the conclusions. Now the chair will present a revised version of the binding instrument before June…
“As Friends of the Earth International (FOEI), we are here (at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva) because we are working with communities, and those communities are affected by transnationals corporations, so we need a Binding Treaty to hold accountable those transnationals which violated human rights”, said Kwami Kpondzo, from FOEI, in an interview with Real World Radio. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txedt5BnvZo&feature=youtu.be[/embed] Kwami,…
Mageswari Sangaralingam, member of SAM – Friends of the Earth Malaysia, warned on Friday that in Asia there are communities affected by corporate crimes, and that the victims, especially of transnational corporations, don´t have access to justice. “So where do you go to access justice if there is a problem of environmental issue or human rights violations?”, when the existing…
“We really call upon the European Union to be constructive, to support the conclusions and make sure that next year we are here to take the next step in this important United Nations treaty that will protect human rights,” activist Ike Teuling, from Friends of the Earth Europe, told Real World Radio on Friday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZSK3vhfbLk&feature=youtu.be “So the last thing that…
“The purpose of this treaty (on transnational corporations and human rights) is to fill the loophole that we have in international law that transnational corporations, because of their structures and the impunity with which they operate, are not held accountable for the violations they do throughout their supply chain”, said on Thursday environmental activist Erika Mendes, of Justiça Ambiental, Friends…
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…
MEP Lola Sánchez, of Podemos Party, Spain, said this Monday in Geneva (Switzerland) that the head of the European Union delegation at the UN negotiations for a binding treaty on transnational corporations and human rights, Jérôme Bellion-Jourdan, “does not represent us, because he doesn´t have an official mandate”. “We really don´t know where his opinions come from”, said Sánchez in…
Karin Nansen, Friends of the Earth International´s Chair, said on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland, that “communities all over the world are calling for justice and to put an end to impunity”. “We are also calling for an effective mechanism, and also an International Court”, she added. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHVJk5j5aUo&feature=youtu.be[/embed] Nansen was the facilitator at the press conference of the Global Campaign to…
