Human rights defender's story: Victoria Maladaeva, from Russia
'Indigenous communities must have better political representations to ensure our rights are protected both constitutionally and in practice.'
Human rights defender's story: Romel González Díaz from Mexico
'After Covid, we will have learnt many things, and one of them is health: to take care of ourselves and value our body more, to find a way to take care of ourselves in a natural and organic manner'.
We first interviewed Romel, a Mayan human rights defender and member of the Regional Indigenous and Popular Council of Xpujil, in 2018. Today on Earth Day, we’re really glad to share a follow-up story about Romel’s work for the protection of nature, land and the rights of indigenous peoples and minority populations in Mexico.
In this video, Romel reflects on the impact of the Covid pandemic on human rights defenders’ work, and its influence on large touristic projects such as the Mayan Train. This megaproject will bring huge consequences for the indigenous populations and minority communities that live in the territory and therefore, many organisations, as well as Romel, are fighting against its construction and for the preservation of land and our environment.
Explore more defender stories!
Human rights defender’s story: Melani Gunathilaka, from Sri Lanka
‘We try to address issues of climate change and inequality only through answering symptoms of the disease. It's time that we address the root cause which is the global financial architecture.’
Human rights defender’s story: Bárbara Astudillo, from Chile
‘We strongly believe that we must push the gender perspective, that we must work with the present and future generations, and that also puts their lives at risk, because they are looking for their birthright. And [these risks] should not be normalised in our world, as we look to reach what is known as climate justice.'