Copyright: ISHR
Ahead of the 85th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the NGO Forum convened a panel on the issue of 'Environmental Justice and Indigenous Peoples' Rights'.
Panellists included speakers from Touch to Heal Initiative, the Association des jeunes dynamiques pour le développement durable, and Asaasiam Vision International, with moderation from the Legal Aid Commission of Ghana.
The discussion centred around how environmental injustice, pollution, environmental degradation, and climate change disproportionately affect indigenous peoples in Africa, as well as women and youth, especially in those communities that depend on nature for their survival and livelihoods on a day-to-day basis.
Participants raised a number of thematic issues and country cases, including hydrogen extraction and transformation in Tunisia, overfishing in Mauritania, mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea, and more, with many projects described by participants as a form of ‘green colonialism’, whereby the profits tend to go to Europe or North America and local communities enjoy little of the benefits.
Speakers highlighted a number of structural barriers to Indigenous Peoples and environmental human rights defenders claiming their rights in the face of large, well–organised extractive corporations. Such barriers include violence and threats, development of capacities for strategic litigation and advocacy, access to information and technology, discrimination based on descent and work, women and youth inclusion, and the language barrier faced by Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa.
When you look at environmental rights, human rights, and Indigenous rights - you cannot separate them.Joseph Asare, Asaasiam Vision International
Solutions proposed during the panel included the creation of a special mechanism for a Special Rapporteur on environmental rights in Africa and the designation of ecocide as an international crime, with associated prevention and punishment.
Relatives of the Chilean Indigenous environmental defender Julia Chuñil must be granted immediate protections by the Chilean State, the Committee to Support Implementation and Compliance of the Escazú Agreement ruled, in response to a request supported by ISHR. This marks the first time the regional treaty urges a signatory State to take protective action.
Last Thursday, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor presented her final annual thematic report during an interactive dialogue at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) recently published its General Comment on the environmental dimension of sustainable development. In addition to recognising human rights defenders, the Comment clarifies State obligations towards marginalised communities and notes the importance of transitioning away from fossil fuels. It also outlines States’ extraterritorial obligations.
