Human Rights


Hands tainted with blood

Days before the first anniversary of the murders of eight indigenous people of the Philippine village Datal Bonglangon, Mindanao Island, on December 3rd, 2017, one of the lawyers supporting the local community, Pochoy Labog, directly accused the company that has been occupying this native territory since early 1990s. He is also accusing Rodrigo Duterte´s administration, due to its policies complacent…

Of pain and courage

Monday marks the first anniversary of the massacre of eight indigenous people in Datal Bonglangon village, South Cotabato province, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. The inhabitants of the small community paid with their lives the demands for their ancestral lands and the resistance to the coffee and mining industry for export. Their blood taints the company and Rodrigo…

Dangerous visits

  [gallery columns="4" ids="3631,3619,3617,3615,3613,3611,3609,3607"] In a Buenos Aires fully armed, with helicopters and military officers, the only voices heard above the siren alarms are those of the social organizations against the G20 Summit and the return of neoliberalism in the region. This accelerated return has also meant the loss of rights acquired by the people in the past decade and…

An expert look

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…

Failed model: greenwashing

“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…

Roger Waters: “Helping others brings us joy”

“We are here to talk about Palestine, we are here to talk about BDS and we are here to talk about human rights and I´m very happy to see all of you here tonight”, said Waters at the beginning of the meeting with Uruguayan journalists Alejandra Casablanca and Virginia Martínez and political expert Gabriel Delacoste. The meeting was organized by…

4th session of negotiations for a legally binding treaty ends

The European Union disengaged with this process despite the pressure of civil society and the constructive engagement of all countries in all other regions of the world, but we know that with or without the EU we are going to have the 5th session,” Lucia Ortiz, Economic Justice Program Coordinator at Friends of the Earth International told Real World Radio on Friday…

Access to Justice

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…

EU must be constructive and accept conclusions of this week´s negotiations

“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…

African priorities

“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…