Governments, corporations and the United Nations should act to address a disturbing global pattern of attacks against human rights defenders who protest against business operations and major development projects.
(Geneva) – Governments, corporations and the United Nations should act to address a disturbing global pattern of attacks against human rights defenders who protest against business operations and major development projects, the International Service for Human Rights said today.
There has been a spate of such attacks in recent weeks, including in Mexico, Russia and Uganda.
On 28 January 2014 the protest camp of the Asamblea Popular del Pueblo de Juchitán (APPJ) in Oaxaca, Mexico, was burned to the ground. The APPJ was formed in February 2013 to protest against the construction of a major wind-farm, Bií Hioxo, by Spanish venture capital firm Gas Natural Fenosa. According to Frontline Defenders, members of the APPJ have been subject to ‘a pattern of serious harassment and surveillance over the course of their legitimate and peaceful opposition to Bií Hioxo’, with one member, Héctor Regalado Jiménez, shot dead on 1 August 2013.
In addition to physical attacks, human rights defenders protesting against business operations have been subject to legal restrictions and harassment. Just yesterday, a number of Russian civil society activists protesting against deforestation and environmental damage associated with construction projects for the Sochi Olympics were arrested and charged with offences such as ‘petty hooliganism’. Amnesty International has reported that one of the defenders, prominent environmental activist Evgeny Vitishko, has already been sentenced to a period of administrative detention after which it is feared that he will be moved to a prison colony.
The pattern of attacks against human rights defenders protesting major development projects is also evidenced in Africa. A February 2014 Human Rights Watch report on the impact of mining on human rights in Uganda found that ‘the government’s increased focus on seeking foreign investment has been marked by increased hostility to civil society working on environmental, land, and corruption issues.’ The report documents a range of attacks against NGOs, such as the Uganda Land Alliance, and concludes that ‘NGOs seeking to educate the public about the value of their land, community processes, and compensation rights face a variety of problems from government officials, including threats of deregistration, accusations of sabotaging government programs, and arrest.’
Attacks against human rights defenders working on corporate accountability issues have also been linked to non-State actors, including private corporations. The most recent report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders documents ‘credible reports and allegations indicating that private corporations are involved in violations against defenders, including stigmatization, threats, harassment, attacks, death threats and killings.’ The Special Rapporteur identifies ‘defenders working on land and environmental issues in connection with extractive industries and construction and development projects’ as facing a particularly ‘high risk of violations’. She also expresses deep ‘concern about the increased criminalization of social protest often in connection with the peaceful expression of opposition to public or private development projects’.
‘ISHR is deeply concerned at the worsening pattern of attacks and restrictions against human rights defenders who work to expose and seek accountability for corporate human rights violations,’ said ISHR Director Phil Lynch.
‘From Mexico to Cambodia and from Russia to Uganda, human rights defenders are being criminalized and attacked for their work to identify, mitigate and remedy human rights violations associated with business operations,’ Mr Lynch said.
With the UN Human Rights Council set to adopt a resolution on human rights defenders in March and on business and human rights in June, ISHR is calling on States, corporations and the UN itself to take a number of steps to reverse this trend:
Contact: Phil Lynch, Director, on [email protected] or + 41 76 708 4738.