Posts Tagged ‘World Bank’
July 30, 2019
The Campaign is made up of defenders and those who work with them on issues of development and human rights – community organizations, human rights and environmental groups, defender security organizations, transparency and accountability NGOs, and indigenous peoples and women’s networks. It is hosted by the Coalition for Human Rights in Development. You can find the Campaign Declaration and list of participant organizations here. In June, the Coalition for Human Rights in Development (CHRD) launched a landmark report with the Defenders in Development Campaign, exposing the risks of mega-infrastructure and other ill-planned development projects on human rights defenders (HRDs). The report laid out 25 case studies demonstrating that HRDs are facing increasing threats and attacks in the context of their resistance to activities undertaken in the name of development, including harassment, physical violence, criminalisation, arbitrary detention and murder.
- Threats and attacks against human rights defenders in the context of development activities are widespread.
- Though they take many different forms, the threats and attacks often start with the labeling of communities, groups, and individuals as “anti-development.”
- The imposition of development activities without the consent or meaningful consultation of local communities and marginalized groups is one of the key root causes of threats for defenders in development.
- Development finance institutions have a duty to respect human rights and to ensure that their investments are not putting people at risk.
- Yet too often, development interventions exacerbate risks for defenders due to lack of adequate attention to the rights and interests of local communities and marginalized populations, and to the contextual risks and power imbalances that may cause them to bear negative impacts or to be made vulnerable.
- Early warning signs of potential threats to defenders are often missed or ignored.
- DFIs have a wide range of resources and influence that can be utilized to change the risk equation for defenders under threat, but often fail to proactively develop this leverage or are reluctant to utilize the leverage they have.
- DFIs often remain silent in the face of threats and attacks, or responses come too little, too late and defenders and communities are left without protection or remedy for harm.
- Several DFIs are beginning to grapple with threats to defenders in development, but much more is needed.
Effectively addressing the shrinking space for participation in development processes and the growing threats to defenders will require not only a change in policy and practice, but a fundamental shift that places human rights and local communities at the center of how development is conceived and implemented.
Landmark report finds attacks on human rights defenders in name of ‘development’ on the rise
Posted in books, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Coalition for Human Rights in Development, development aid, DFIs, environmental human rights defenders, funders, Human Rights Defenders, UN, Uncalculated Risks, World Bank
September 1, 2016
The chilling trend of attacking human rights defenders working on environment and land rights continues. The help keep an overview here a summary of a number of relevant items:
On 26 August 2016
Patricia Schaefer of the
Center for International Environmental Law posted a blog in the NonProfitQuarterly website under the Title “
International Collaboration Reports on Violence against Environmental Activists”, summarizing two recent reports (
On Dangerous Ground by
Global Witness and a more recent “
Deadly Shade of Green” by Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), British NGO Article 19, and Vermont Law School).
Global Witness stated that worldwide, in 2015, there were 185 individuals killed in 16 countries while defending their land, forests, and rivers against industrial encroachment. At the top of the list were Brazil (50 killings), the Philippines (33), and Colombia (26). Global Witness recounts, “Conflicts over mining were the number one cause of killings in 2015, with agribusiness, hydroelectric dams and logging also key drivers of violence. In 2015, almost 40 percent of victims were from indigenous groups.” [Global Witness’ earlier report: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/environment-deadly-for-human-rights-defenders-says-global-witness/].
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Front Line, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, UN | 4 Comments »
Tags: Berta Cáceres, Brazil, Center for International Environmental Law, Deadly Shade of Green, Ecuador, environmental activists, Front Line (NGO), Global Witness, Gloria Capitan, HRW, Human Rights Defenders, killings, land rights defender, Latin America, Nilce de Souza Magalhães, Patricia Schaefer, Philippines, resource extraction, World Bank
November 19, 2015
Here two contrasting statements on the theme of business and human rights. One describes the hesitation of the World Bank to apply human rights criteria and even use the word human rights (posted in the Huffington post of 18 November 2015 by Nezir Sinani [www.twitter.com/NezirSinani] and Julia Radomski, and the other is a piece written by Owen Larter and Nicolas Patrick entitled “Microsoft & DLA Piper – Why Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders are Right for our Business” [published in the ISHR Monitor on 27 October 2015]. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Business and human rights, Civil society, corporate accountability, DLA Piper, Environmental issue, Huffington Post, Human Rights Defenders, information technology companies, ISHR, Microsoft, Nezir Sinani, Owen Larter, social accountability, World Bank
The Campaign is made up of defenders and those who work with them on issues of development and human rights – community organizations, human rights and environmental groups, defender security organizations, transparency and accountability NGOs, and indigenous peoples and women’s networks. It is hosted by the Coalition for Human Rights in Development. You can find the Campaign Declaration and list of participant organizations here. In June, the Coalition for Human Rights in Development (CHRD) launched a landmark report with the Defenders in Development Campaign, exposing the risks of mega-infrastructure and other ill-planned development projects on human rights defenders (HRDs). The report laid out 25 case studies demonstrating that HRDs are facing increasing threats and attacks in the context of their resistance to activities undertaken in the name of development, including harassment, physical violence, criminalisation, arbitrary detention and murder.