Photo by Ayşe Gürsöz of action at U.S. Embassy in Madrid during COP25, December 2019.
The Call to Action from the Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice states: “We call on all governments to respect the right of freedom of expression and peaceful protest, and to immediately halt the criminalization of land defenders, whose efforts are central to a climate-just world.”
Their statement was signed by 120+ groups including Amazon Watch, BankTrack, Global Witness, Honor the Earth, Indigenous Climate Action, Oil Change International, and Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN).
The Global Women’s Assembly brought together 100+ climate leaders from 40 countries for a 6-day public forum that began on September 24.
Their statement echoes other recent calls to governments including:
“Stop the violence and criminalization against indigenous peoples, small farmers, small fisherfolk, and other environmental and land defenders. Support the work they do. Respect and listen to our defenders.”
“Stop the killing of land and environmental defenders and ensure those who commit or are complicit in violence against them face justice.”
Young climate activists from Colombia, Mexico, and Kenya
“We call on:
The UN secretary-general and the COP26 president-designate to condemn the killing and harassment of land and environmental defenders in the strongest possible terms, and to call for countries to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
The UN secretary-general to utilize all tools available to the UN to ensure the protection of environmental defenders, including by supporting the global implementation of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
The COP26 president-designate to use the significant diplomatic resources at his disposal – through UK embassies and High Commissions around the world – to make this a top priority in his discussions with Government leaders, working with them to strengthen protections for environmental defenders in-country.”
United Nations Human Rights Council
“Human rights defenders, including environmental human rights defenders, must be ensured a safe and enabling environment to undertake their work free from hindrance and insecurity, in recognition of their important role in supporting States to fulfill their obligations under the Paris Agreement.”
Global Witness has documented that that 227 land and environmental defenders were killed in 2020 for peacefully standing against the destruction of nature. 125 of them, more than half the global total, were killed in Colombia (65), Mexico (30), Honduras (17), and Guatemala (13).
They have also highlighted that on average four land and environmental defenders have been killed every week since the COP21 summit in December 2015.
Peace Brigades International is organizing a webinar on Saturday, November 6 to help highlight the relationship between human rights and climate change. Meetings between foreign ministers and human rights defenders are also being organized.
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