We all want to breathe clean air, drink safe water, and to be able to provide sustenance and a healthy, dignified life for our families. Human survival and well-being rests on a biodiverse and healthy environment and a safe climate. Environmental human rights defenders help us to achieve that – they defend the planet and their communities from the impact of harmful resource extraction or pollution by unscrupulous companies or governments. Their work is essential to attaining the sustainable development goals and ensuring that no-one is left behind.
The draft resolution on environmental human rights defenders has now been formally ‘tabled’ at the Human Rights Council, meaning it is scheduled for consideration and adoption by the Council on 22 and 23 March. The draft resolution is a timely and important statement on the vital role of environmental human rights defenders in safeguarding biodiversity, addressing climate change, achieving sustainable development and promoting and protecting all human rights.
However, while the resolution contains some important elements, several of the below civil society asks are still missing. In particular, the resolution should :
· more clearly identify and name the root causes and perpetrators at the heart of the insecurity facing environmental human rights defenders;
· increase the demands on States and businesses with regard to conducting due diligence on business and development activities; and
· include specific calls on investors and development finance institutions to use their influence to better protect environmental human rights defenders.
As the negotiations at the Human Rights Council enter their final phase, ISHR calls on all States and civil society to continue to push for the inclusion of key civil society asks, and to use the remaining days to work towards the adoption of a strong resolution on environmental human rights defenders. The resolution, as currently drafted, is an important step but does not yet represent the unequivocal signal in support of environmental activists the Council should send.
Civil society* from across the world are calling on all UN Member States to demonstrate their support to environmental human rights defenders.
At its current 40th session, the Human Rights Council is discussing a draft resolution on environmental human rights defenders. This is a timely and important initiative as UN agencies, human rights organisations and the media have documented unprecedented killings and attacks against people defending land and the environment.
It is important for the Council to adopt a resolution that reflects the gravity and the reality of the situation defenders face every day. Our organisation therefore call on members of the UN Human Rights Council to ensure that the resolution adopted by the Council clearly:
- Outlines the root causes of the threats against environmental human rights defenders, including development and commercial activities with adverse social and environmental impacts, or those imposed on communities without meaningful consultation and respect for their rights;
- Recognises that environmental human rights defenders confront multiple adverse interests when challenging State and corporate activities, and highlights the collusion between different actors which hinders the work of defenders and aggravates their vulnerable position;
- Clearly names the industries and activities most dangerous to defenders, such as the mining industry, natural resource exploitation, agribusiness and large-scale development projects;
- Acknowledges the wide number of States that have recognised the right to a healthy environment in their internal legal order;
- Recognises that the lack of effective access to information, access to participation and access to justice causes environmental conflicts and leads to violence against defenders;
- Calls for the development of protection mechanisms for environmental human rights defenders in line with best practice identified by the Special Rapporteur;
- Articulates the specific risks women and indigenous human rights defenders face and the need for an intersectional approach in assessing and designing protection measures for defenders;
- Calls on States to ensure that all communities are meaningfully consulted and can participate genuinely in matters that affect their rights and, in particular the use, management and conservation of their land and natural resources;
- Calls on States to guarantee the right to free, prior and informed consent for indigenous peoples;
- Calls on States to adopt legislation that creates due diligence obligations for companies registered in their jurisdictions and those of their subsidiaries;
- Articulates the responsibility of businesses to respect the rights of human rights defenders and highlights measures companies should take to contribute to addressing their insecurity;
- Adequately articulates the responsibility of investors and the obligations of development finance institutions to respect human rights in the context of their investments and to develop and implement effective policies to prevent and address threats; and
- Stresses that an open civic space, including respect for the rights to freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association and movement, as well as the right to participate in the conduct of government and public affairs, is vital to the protection of both a healthy and sustainable environment and environmental human rights defenders.
The draft being negotiated in Geneva contains some of these essential elements, which must be defended, but also offers significant potential for strengthening.
As negotiations enter the final stretch, our organisations urge States to actively support the development of a resolution which clearly recognises the vital contribution of environmental human rights defenders to sustainable development and the effective enjoyment of human rights and formulates concrete asks of the States, development finance institutions and companies with the power of safeguarding that contribution.
Sincerely, *signatures are collected on a rolling basis
- International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
- Amnesty International
- Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum Asia)
- CIVICUS
- DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project)
- Earth Justice
- Front Line Defenders
- Global Witness
- JASS (Just Associates)
- IM-Defensoras
- Christian Development Alternative (CDA)
- Nigerian Women Agro Allied Farmers Association
- Social Justice Connection
- Franciscans International
- Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos – Guatemala (UDEFEGUA)
- Geneva for Human Rights
- Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
- Réseau Ouest africain des Défenseurs des Droits Humains/West African Human Rights Defenders’ Network
- Coordination des associations et des particuliers pour la liberté de conscience
- La’o Hamutuk
- Karapatan Philippines
- Human Rights House Foundation
- HETAVED SKILLS ACADEMY AND NETWORKS
- International Commission of Jurists
- Conectas Direitos Humanos
- World Movement for Democracy
- Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia (AHRE)
- Center for Civil Liberties
- Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights
- Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)
- International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA)
- Humanitaire Plus (Togo)
- Coalition Burkinabé des Défenseurs des Droits Humains
- AMARA
- Gender and Development for Cambodia (GADC)
- Odhikar
- Freedom House
- Red Internacional Unión Latinoamericana de Mujeres – Red ULAM
- Freedom House
- Rivers without Boundaries Mongolia
- Asian Legal Resource Centre
- OYU TOLGOI WATCH
- Ligue Burundaise des droits de l’homme Iteka
- International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES)
- AVIPA association des victimes parents et amis du 28 septembre 2009 Guinée
- Porgera Red Wara (River) Women’s Association Incorporated (PRWWA INC.)
- KRuHA – people’s coalition for the right to water
- Asia Pacific Network of Environment Defenders (APNED)
- EMPOWER INDIA
- EarthRights International
- Dawei Probono Lawyer Network (DPLN)
- Africa Network for Enivironment and Economic Justice(ANEEJ)
- Partnership for Justice, Nigeria
- Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
- Huridocs
- Steps Without Borders NGO
- Humanists International
- Coalition Togolaise des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (CTDDH)
- Labour,Health and Human Rights Development Centre
- Institute for Multi-Resource Development (IMdev)
- Not1More
- Patrons of Khuvsgul lake movement
- Liberia Coalition of Human Rights DefendersHuman Concern, Inc
- Brot für die Welt
- ARTICLE 19
- Peace Brigades International
- Metro Center Journalists Rights & Advocacy
- World Uyghur Congress
- 350.org
- International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR)
- Latinamerikagrupperna
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
- Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
- SUDIA
- Synergia – 36/5000 Initiatives for Human Rights
- Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc.
- Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM)
- Center for Women’s Global Leadership
- Transformative and Integrative Build Out For All
- Institute for Strategic & Development Studies
- Reseau de Femmes du mMlieu Rural Haitien
- East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
- FIFCJ
- Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
- Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)
-
Zo Indigenous Forum
-
MADRE
-
FOKUS Forum for women and development
-
Bougainville Women’s Federation
-
Human Rights Council-Ethiopia
-
Environment Defenders Advocacy
-
Porgera Women’s Rights Watch
-
Independent Human Rights Analyst and Strategy Advisor
-
Buliisa Initiative for Rural Development Organisation (BIRUDO)
-
Community Resource Centre Foundation
-
MANUSHYA FOUNDATION
-
Equitable Cambodia
-
Friends with Environment in Development
-
Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB)
-
Association For Promotion Sustainable development
-
WoMin Afrcan Alliance
-
Both ENDS
-
Child Rights Connect
-
CONSEIL REGIONAL DES ORGANISATIONS NON GOUVERNEMENTALES DE DEVELOPPEMENT
-
Enda Lead Afrique Francophone
-
Human Rights Law Centre
-
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
-
World Voices Uganda
-
Africa Center for Policy Facilitation
-
Estonian Forest Aid
-
Community Transformation Foundation Network (COTFONE)
-
Collectif Camerounais des Organisations des Droits de l’Homme et de la Démocratie (COCODHD)
-
Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
-
North-East Affected Area Development Society (NEADS)
-
Sangsan Anakot Yawachon Development Project
-
Forum Syd Sweden
-
COALITION AGAINST LAND GRABBING (CALG) – PHILIPPINES
-
UNLAD-BLFFA
-
Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC)
-
BankTrack
-
CORE Coalition
-
The Gaia Foundation
-
Labour Behind the Label
-
Bataris Formation Center
-
Salva la Selva
-
Observatoire d’etudes et d’appui a la responsabilite sociale et environnementale ( OEARSE )
-
REd de Género y Medio Ambiente
-
London Mining Network
-
Abibiman Foundation
-
Ecodesarollo
-
The Kesho Trus
-
Organisation mondiale contre la torture
-
PAPUA NEW GUINEA MINING WATCH GROUP ASSOCIATION INC
-
11.11.11 – Koepel van de Vlaamse Noord-Zuidbeweging
-
Center for Global Nonkilling
-
Centro salvadoreño de Tecnología Apropiada
-
Coalition Ivoirienne des Défenseurs des Droits Humains (CIDDH)
-
Friends of the Earth NI
-
Forest Peoples Programme
-
Environmental Investigation Agency
-
Fundación para el Desarrollo de Políticas Sustentables (FUNDEPS)
-
Bank Information Center
-
Africa development Interchange Network
-
Voluntariados Intag
-
Mangrove Action Project
-
IUCN NL
-
Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC)
-
Amazon Watch
-
HRM @Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan@
-
Task Force Detainees of the Philippines
-
Asociación ambiental e cultural Petón do Lobo
-
Asociación galega Cova Crea
-
Amigos e Amigas dos Bosques “O Ouriol do Anllóns”
-
Réseau Camerounais des Organisations des Droits de l’Homme (RECODH)
-
CNCD-11.11.11
-
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
-
Rainforest Foundation Norway
-
Women Working Worldwide
-
Greenpeace
-
AMDH- Maroc
-
In Difesa Di , per i diritti umani e chi li difende
-
Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines
-
Buliisa Initiative for Rural Development Organisation (BIRUDO) – Uganda