In India, 10 people were killed and more than 100 injured during demonstrations against copper smelter Sterlite Copper in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. After four years and several investigations into the killing, neither the state nor the company has been blamed.
However, those fighting for justice have since faced human rights abuses, including criminal convictions, surveillance, blocking their right to assemble, threats and violence.
Global Witness said that few murderers have been brought to justice due to the government’s failure to properly investigate these crimes. Many authorities ignore or actively hinder investigations into these killings, which it believes are often due to collusion between corporate and state interests. It said this actually gave the perpetrators the green light.
progress
It acknowledges that governments and businesses have made some progress in protecting defenders over the past decade, such as regulations on human rights due diligence for businesses and Latin America and the Caribbean Escazu Accord Provide protection for the human rights of environmental defenders in the region.
However, it warned that commercial progress was superficial and largely reliant on voluntary commitments to human rights that were not consistently implemented. It said collusion between businesses and the government was to blame for the lack of proper investigations into many of the killings, effectively giving the perpetrators the green light.
Violence, criminalization and harassment of defenders are also common in many countries, according to Global Witness.
At a media event ahead of the report’s release, Jon Bonafacio, national coordinator of the Youth Advocates for Climate Action in the Philippines (YACAP), spoke about an activist he knew who was arrested last year by multiple heavily armed police officers Arrested, dragged into the street and charged with rebellion for opposing a proposed hydroelectric dam in her community.
“Unfortunately, these cases are just the tip of the iceberg of the amount of harassment faced by Philippine environmental defenders,” he said.
good news
In Colombia, activist Oscar Sampayo speaks of being attacked by far-right groups, drug cartels and paralegals for defending human rights and nature against oil drilling in the Magdalena Medio region Threats and intimidation by military organizations. A female activist he knew was forced to flee to France this year. He said three of his friends and fellow militants were assassinated this year.
Global Witness is concerned about future land grabs due to the growth of voluntary carbon markets, as much of the land for carbon projects such as renewable energy and forestry overlaps with areas traditionally owned by indigenous, local and Afro-descendent peoples. There have been allegations of human rights abuses by carbon market-related projects, including in Honduras and Uganda.
There is some good news in the report. In July 2021, five years after the murder of environmental and indigenous defender Berta Cáceres, a Honduran court convicted Robert David Castillo of conspiracy to murder while he was head of the hydroelectric dam company Desarrollos Energéticos. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison for ordering the murder of a hired killer.
In Indonesia, farmer and land defender Franz Hemsi this year acquired the 20 hectares that PT Mamuang, a subsidiary of Astra Agro Lestari, the country’s second-largest palm oil company, forcibly took from him in 2005 land rights. The victory came after he was jailed three times and his family was regularly threatened.
Global Witness senior campaigner Ali Hines said: “Global Witness calls for companies and governments to be held accountable for violence against land and environmental defenders. It is clear from our statistics that urgent action is needed at the regional, national and international levels. action to end the violence and injustice they face.”
this author
Catherine Early is a freelance environmental journalist and ecologist’s lead reporter.she is on twitter @Cat_Early76.
