TAKE ACTION Canada: Protect Earth Defenders in Latin America

Canada: Protect Earth Defenders

Defenders in Latin America face increasing lethal attacks.

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Call on Canada to protect Earth Defenders in Latin America

Hon.

François-Philippe

Champagne

Government of Canada

Dear Ministers,

Respected human rights experts have sounded the alarm about an increasingly dangerous escalation of attacks against environmental human rights defenders in Latin America, including women and Indigenous human rights defenders.

Indigenous peoples have the right to free, prior and informed consent and all communities have the right to fully participate in consultations around proposed projects that may affect their lands and livelihoods. However, these rights are often not meaningfully implemented, or simply ignored by companies with the complicity of governments.

In March 2019, the UN Human Rights Council called on all governments to promote a safe and enabling environment in which individual and groups working on human rights and environmental issues can operate free from violence, threats, hindrance and insecurity.

To achieve this end, we call on you to:

- Ensure Canada’s foreign, trade and investment policy reflects commitments made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to strictly adhere to and fully implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

- Ensure no investment project advances with Canada’s support unless there are safe conditions for meaningful consultation and the free, prior and informed consent of affected Indigenous peoples.

- Ensure accountability for companies that violate the human rights of earth defenders and their communities, guaranteeing that the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise has the independence and powers necessary to investigate abuse allegations.

Sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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Minister

Mary

Government of Canada

Dear Ministers,

To achieve this end, we call on you to:

- Ensure no investment project advances with Canada’s support unless there are safe conditions for meaningful consultation and the free, prior and informed consent of affected Indigenous peoples.

Sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

Add your personal message and signature

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Across Latin America, people who seek to protect land, water and forests face an unprecedented increase in attacks and killings. It’s the most dangerous region in the world to defend environmental human rights.

The aim is to paralyze peaceful struggles of entire communities exercising their right to speak out about irresponsible logging, mining and dam projects that threaten the environment on which they depend.

It is vital that Canada puts in place effective safeguards to ensure the trade and investment our government promotes in Latin America does not lead to conflict and violence against earth defenders.

ADD YOUR VOICE TO OUR E-ACTION: Urge Canada to be part of the solution.

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Background

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders has called on the international community to protect environmental human rights defenders by addressing root causes of the violence, including:

- resource exploitation that fails to address the legitimate concerns and demands of local communities

- failure by companies to respect the rights of earth defenders to express dissent and oppose their activities

- failure by States to communicate clearly the human rights obligations of business enterprises and sanction companies associated with threats to defenders

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