Both ENDS
Today, three representatives of the Honduran indigenous people's organisation COPINH, together with the family of environmental activist Berta Cáceres, who was murdered in March 2016, announced that they are preparing to press charges against the Dutch development bank FMO. COPINH accuses the FMO of complicity in human rights violations in connection with the controversial Agua Zarca hydroelectric project.
Today, it is exactly one year ago that Berta Cáceres was brutally murdered in her home in Honduras. Cáceres was a globally known human rights defender and coordinator of the indigenous Lenca organisation COPINH. The murder of Berta is closely related to her protest against the Agua Zarca dam, a hydroelectric project financed partially by the Dutch development bank FMO.
In the face of environmental transphobia, a form of discrimination where trans and gender-diverse communities are disproportionately impacted by environmental degradation,excluded from climate policies, and often met with stigma and exclusion by environmental justice movements, Grupo Orgulho, Liberdade e Dignidade (GOLD) has emerged as a bold and visionary force for change in Brazil. At the heart of this movement is Débora Sabará ,GOLD’s leader, a travesti activist who has fought tirelessly to place the perspectives andneeds of LGBTIQAPN+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer, Asexual, Pansexual, Nonbinary and other identities), Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian communities at the center of environmental justice conversations.
We are deeply shocked about the murder on Dexter Condez, the 26-year-old leader of the Ati tribe, an indigenous group in the Philippines. He was shot dead Friday night February 22nd on the tourist island of Boracay. While no suspects have been arrested, the police thinks the motive could involve a dispute between de Ati tribe and developers over a piece of land. Our sympathy goes to the family, friends and the people he worked with.
Today, more than 340 organisations from both South America and Europe, including Both ENDS, have sent a joint open letter to European Union leaders calling for the EU to cease negotiations on the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement. The organisations and their constituencies are seriously concerned about increasing violations of indigenous human rights and damage to nature and the environment in Brazil.
We are shocked and alarmed by the news that the Philippine government has declared a list of 600 people to be communist terrorists. On the list are mostly indigenous leaders, environmental activists and human rights defenders. Among them are some of our partners, and we are deeply worried about them and the other people on this list.
The climate crisis continues to escalate, and the urgency for meaningful solutions has never been more palpable. As world leaders gather for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP28), it's crucial that grassroots voices are not just heard but leading on the solutions we craft. We must recognise the climate leadership of the self-led groups of women, girls, trans and intersex within the Indigenous, Afrodescendant and rural communities that have been structurally excluded and silenced as the world grapples with climate change.
This week, from 12 until 16 February, fourteen indigenous leaders and human rights defenders from forest countries came to the Netherlands to call upon Dutch policy makers to take serious action against human rights abuses, land grabbing and further deforestation in relation to large scale agriculture, timber logging and mining. The Dutch harbours of Rotterdam and Amsterdam receive enormeous amounts of soy and palm oil, both for the Dutch market and for further transport into Europe and elswhere.
Pieter Jansen, programme officer at Both ENDS, interviewed Sukanta Sen from the Bangladesh Resource Center for Indigenous Knowledge (BARCIK). BARCIK is an NGO that works in the field of environment, biodiversity conservation and development. They have been promoting the significance of local and indigenous knowledge in development initiatives as well as the empowerment process of local and indigenous communities.