Environmental defender Quinto Inuma Alvarado was shot and killed by hooded men in response to his work defending his land from illegal logging and drug trafficking in the San Martín region of Peru (valle del Chipurana).

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“This is why we are threatened, because we are resisting,” Quinto Inuma said at the Latin America regional meeting of the Zero Tolerance Initiative in 2022. 

On October 4, Maricela Guzmán, Diana Montoya and Miriam Ternoz from ASTAC, Ecuador received identical Whatsapp messages in which the senders threatened to kill them. The message included detailed information about the defenders’ family members and addresses.

Over 40 civil society organisations including many ZTI members signed on to an open letter facilitated by Swedwatch, calling on companies sourcing from Ecuador to reach out to suppliers and take necessary steps to ensure the case is investigated.

International advocacy is a critical area of work for human/environmental rights defenders and the organisations that support them. The United Nations (UN) in particular has various mechanisms dedicated to hearing and amplifying cases of human rights abuses and in applying pressure on states to respond to cases and implement international commitments.

While UN mechanisms are designed to support and respond to rights defenders, navigating the UN system is not always easy. There are myriad events, offices, calls for inputs, protocols and regional particularities that can be daunting to navigate, particularly when expedience is important. A key question faced by rights defenders looking to raise awareness and/or gain support for their cause is, what is the most effective way to engage with the UN system?

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The workshop will include an introduction by Romchat Wachirarattanakornkul - Human Rights, Climate Change & Environment Regional Focal Point at UN Human Rights – Asia,  to the UN Human Rights mechanisms, how best to engage and their value as platforms for advocacy. There will also be an opportunity for experience-sharing, questions and discussion.  

In response to an open letter by the Ocho Sur palm oil group, the National Amazonian Indigenous Peoples’ organisation, AIDESEP, issued a public letter in response on July 7, 2022. This letter accuses Ocho Sur of using intimidatory purposes to conceal its "divide and rule" strategy, which affects the self-determination and self-government of the Amazonian Indigenous peoples of Ucayali.

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The letter further calls on Ocho Sur's international buyers to exercise due diligence before buying palm oil from this company.

After a meeting from 28-29 March, 2022, the Shipibo-Konibo community of Paohyan declared a state of emergency on their territory  in the face of the abandonment of the Peruvian state and the pressure on their territory due to deforestation, illegal logging and drug trafficking. 

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The Paohyan community invited President Pedro Castillo Torres to listen to their demands. They will not allow anybody into their community apart from State officials and representatives of allied NGOs. 

Join us to hear from indigenous and local community leaders from Kenya, Russia, Bangladesh and Peru, who will share their key demands for land rights to be recognised as a climate solution.

The event will reflect on how demands from COP26 should be taken into account in relation to implementation of the UNGPs and will explore the underlying drivers of violence against human rights defenders focusing on recognising collective land rights as one critical solution.

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Introductory and concluding words: 

Anita Ramasastry - Member of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

The agribusiness sector has seen a 60% increase in killings of human rights defenders in the last year, most of them indigenous peoples.

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“The agribusiness supply chain is one of the riskiest for human rights defenders and communities,” said Michel Forst, former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

“The Consumer Goods Forum – as a key platform for retailers, producers of products from palm oil, soya among others – can play a key role in advancing the [human rights] debate and improve corporate practices related to human rights defenders and environmental rights defenders.”

Emyra Waiãpi, un leader indigène de 68 ans, a été poignardé à mort alors qu'une cinquantaine de chercheurs d'or, dont une douzaine étaient lourdement armés, entraient dans la réserve indigène Waiãpi, située dans le nord de l'État brésilien d'Amapá. L'IWGIA condamne le meurtre du leader Waiãpi et de tous les peuples indigènes qui défendent leurs droits sur leurs terres traditionnelles, qui sont rapidement exploitées dans le cadre de la ruée mondiale vers les ressources naturelles.

Jusqu'à récemment, les derniers membres du peuple indigène Souy vivaient paisiblement sur leur territoire ancestral. Mais l'arrivée d'une compagnie de canne à sucre, liée au président, leur a fait perdre l'accès à leurs terres et à leurs points d'eau. La compagnie a obtenu le soutien de la police, et lorsque les villageois ont commencé à bloquer les routes, la compagnie a utilisé la force pour les enlever, et de nombreux villageois ont été arrêtés ou battus. L'IWGIA raconte l'histoire d'une femme courageuse de 75 ans, qui a aidé le Souy à défendre ses terres contre cette entreprise agricole envahissante.

On October 22, Mr. Arnaldo Benítez Vargas, the spiritual leader of the Yvy Pyte community in Cerro Corá, Amambaywas violently murdered.

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ZTI Steering Group member FAPI condemns the killing and demands concrete responses from the State to protect ancestral and legalized lands.

The land conflicts between  Brasil BioFuels (BBF) and Indigenous peoples and local communities are long standing in the state of Para, Brazil, as BBF's plantations are located on land claimed as traditional lands by indigenous peoples and local communities.

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On the eve of the Amazon Summit in Belém, this August, security guards and the Military Police are accused of having shot four indigenous Tembé people in this escalating land conflict.

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This open letter calls for the suspension of sourcing from BBF until the company takes action to end all forms of violence and intimidation against the community and until harms have been compensated and fully remedied to the satisfaction of the aggrieved communities.

The impacts of large-scale interests in mining, logging, oil and gas, conservation, agribusiness have wreaked havoc to many communities in Africa. These industries are associated with a plethora of human rights violations, including killing of land and environmental defenders, criminalization of communities’ livelihoods, environmental pollution, land grabbing, and distortion of societal social and governance structures.

Are you a community or organisation based in Africa experiencing human rights violations as a result of global supply chains?

Join us on Zoom to find out what the ZTI is, the benefits of its membership and to meet current ZTI members.

Palm Oil company Energy & Palma has been using Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) to criminalise defenders in Ecuador. Afro-descendant land rights defenders have been ordered to pay fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of peacefully protesting against Energy & Palma's illegal occupation of their land. Nestle's attempts to establish a mediated dialogue process were full of irregularities.

The letter urges Nestlé to take concrete measures to halt the human rights impacts and environmental harms connected with Energy & Palma's operations.

On June 10, 2021, a variety of national and international NGOs sent an Open Letter to multinational companies that were sourcing palm oil from Reforestadora de Palma S.A (REPSA) in Guatemala, which is linked to rights violations and ecocide. 

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REPSA issues a response in which it claimed to have resolved issues stemming from two oil spills, but this is not the case. This second letter, dated January 2022, calls again on multinationals to stop all sourcing of palm oil from REPSA until these issues are resolved. 

On December 3, Zero Tolerance Initiative held a webinar where four distinguished Indigenous leaders shared their reflections on the implications the recent COP26 summit and UNGPs in the next decade (following on from the 10th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights) could have to land and environmental defenders and securing collective rights. 

The agribusiness sector has seen a 60% increase in killings of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in the last year, most of them indigenous peoples.

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This webinar is an opportunity for forest communities from Indonesia, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru to share their struggles with a global audience. Activists, civil society organisations and other interested parties are invited to hear from HRDs about the situation on the ground for communities affected by industrial-scale palm oil and soya production. This will be a space for mutual learning on strategies needed to address collective threats to defenders.

Alors que les conflits fonciers concernant les plantations de palmiers à huile dans l'ouest de Sumatra, en Indonésie, s'enflamment, les dirigeants communautaires et les défenseurs des droits de l'homme font l'objet d'une intimidation et d'une criminalisation croissantes de la part de la police locale, prétendument encouragées par les planteurs.

The Shipibo-Konibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya are struggling against the dispossession and devastation of their ancestral lands due to the aggressive expansion of oil palm. As well as negatively impacting food security and destroying their way of life, the company’s presence has driven fierce competition for control over lands between groups of settlers dedicated to land-trafficking and exposed the Shipibo-Konibo indigenous community to intimidation, threats and attacks. 

On October 7, the Indonesian police opened fire on a demonstration of the Indigenous Dayak Banjar community.

The community were protesting in Bangkal Village, Seruyan, Central Kalimantan against the encroachments of a palm oil company. This excessive use of force by the police resulted in the death of one Indigenous individual, injuries to two more, and the arbitrary detention of dozens.

See statements from FPP and IPRI. Local organisations supporting the community were able to access the ZTI Urgent Response and Prevention Fund.

The Indigenous Ekuri community have been peacefully resisting deforestation on their lands, but in response they have faced threats and intimidation from the logging company. 

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This open letter calls on the Government of Nigeria to take action to stop these human rights violations that threaten the collective survival of the community and the Ekuri forest.

Representatives from Indigenous Peoples, civil society,
and community-based organizations around the world sent an open letter to household consumer goods companies demanding they immediately suspend Indonesia's second largest palm oil company, Astra Agro Lestari from their supply chains and work to redress the grievances of impacted communities.

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The letter is directed at the “Forest Positive Coalition” of the Consumer Goods Forum – a consortium of the world’s top consumer brands – ahead of its meeting during NYC Climate Week 2022.

This open letter, signed by organisations from across the world, stands in support of Colombian human rights organisation Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz. It highlights the attacks carried out against Justicia y Paz's legal representative Danilo Rueda, and other human rights defenders in Colombia.

Danilo has been subject to a smear campaign against him by powerful sectors of the Colombian media and political class. These accusations, attacks and smear campaign have put Rueda's life and integrity at risk. Danilo is a member of the ZTI steering group.

International and national non-governmental and academic organisations have sent a letter to Colombian governmental and security authorities to highlight their concern about illegal mining in the Resguardo Indígena de Origen Colonial Cañamomo Lomaprieta.

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The letter states their concern about the lack of implementation of the orders of Colombia's Constitutional Court Decision T530 of September 2016. This Court Decision reiterates the Resguardo Cañamomo Lomaprieta's right to self-govern their own territory and create their own regulations regarding mining on their land. 

Join us to hear from indigenous and local community leaders from Kenya, Russia, Bangladesh and Peru, who will share their key demands for land rights to be recognised as a climate solution.

The event will reflect on how demands from COP26 should be taken into account in relation to implementation of the UNGPs and will explore the underlying drivers of violence against human rights defenders focusing on recognising collective land rights as one critical solution.

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Introductory and concluding words: 

Anita Ramasastry - Member of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

​During the Global Mobilisation organisations and individuals worldwide will call for an end to the criminalisation of land rights defenders.  We will demand that governments protect Indigenous People and local communities defending their lands, forests, and waters and act to recognise their land rights.

La Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria est riche en minéraux précieux. 261 concessions minières ont déjà été accordées et 244 autres sont en cours d'attribution. Toutefois, les Arhuacos, une population indigène, n'ont pas été inclus dans ces décisions et processus. En 2017, cela a conduit à une protestation massive contre les projets miniers et leur impact destructeur sur leurs territoires.

"Pour nous, Arhuaco, notre territoire est la base de notre savoir et il constitue le cadre dans lequel notre culture peut se développer", déclare Rubiel Zalabata.