Photo by Gabriel McCallin on Unsplash
Climate, land and environmental rights defenders work against the clock to address the climate crisis and help us all live on a healthy, sustainable planet.
Human rights defenders are at the forefront of protecting their communities, the environment and key natural resources that maintain the balance in our planet. A balance that is under worsening threat. Data is clear: there is a trend of increasing attacks against human rights and environmental defenders across all regions. Globally, 604 attacks on activists working on business-related human rights issues were recorded in 2020, despite or because of the vital work they are doing so that their communities can live on their land in a healthy, sustainable manner.
Many attacks on human rights defenders are linked to business activities, with private actors either directly perpetrating the abuses or failing to act against imminent and predictable business-related harm. The situation is especially concerning in the extractives and agribusiness sectors.
Demand for natural resources is at an all-time high and continues to grow, while environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity advances. At this pace, if the global population continues to grow as predicted, by 2050 we would require three planets to provide the natural resources that currently sustain our way of living. Economic sectors linked with the exploitation of natural resources tend to be at the forefront of human rights abuses globally, such as extractive, oil and gas or those businesses linked to sectors fueling the so-called fourth industrial revolution, such as batteries or solar panels.
Moving towards a zero-carbon economy becomes indispensable. However, this transition should not be encouraged at the expense of human rights or harm to local communities. The transition towards renewable energy sources is an opportunity to address serious socio economic issues, but it has also become a threat to human rights, as abuses linked to renewable energy projects are becoming increasingly frequent.
Check out all the latest updates to this topic.
The Human Rights Council held an informal discussion on the role that human rights must have to shape and guide coordinated efforts to tackle the climate crisis in multilateral spaces.
On 21 May 2024, ISHR delivered a statement highlighting issues related to the impacts of extractive industries on the defence of human rights and the environment.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called on France to respect the demands of the Kali'ña Indigenous community in the village of Prospérité, who oppose construction of a power plant in a location that deprives them of access to their land.
In the face of multiple human rights crisis in the region, as well as significant political changes, defenders spoke at the Human Rights Council’s 55th session about the realities they have faced, calling for greater action and new mechanisms, and noting that political expediency shouldn't trump the objective assessment of the need for Council action on country situations.
Before the Human Rights Council, Guatemalan Indigenous defenders spoke of the 'historic opportunity' that Guatemala is experiencing but also of the deep systemic problems that must be urgently addressed.
The Indigenous Kali'na community of the village of Prospérité has filed a request to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to activate an early warning procedure that would urge French authorities to halt construction of a power plant on land that is essential to their way of life.
People in certain areas do not need big hotels, they do not need a huge stadium, they just need the nature to sustainably live and survive.
