Take Action:Canada: Stop Investing in Environmental and Human Rights Harm

Action Counter

Canada: Stop investing in environmental and human rights harm

Hold Export Development Canada accountable for disastrous dam investment.

Form Section Structure

Urge Canada to remedy impacts of Colombia dam investment

President and CEO

Mairead

Lavery

Export Development Canada

To:
Ms. Mairead Lavery, President, EDC
Hon. Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade

I am writing to express my deep concern that EDC loaned public money to help finance construction of the Hidroituango dam in Colombia despite longstanding opposition from people who would be affected, warnings of impending social and environmental harm, and ample evidence that the project would exacerbate human rights violations and armed conflict in the region of the dam.

I remind EDC that the Crown corporation has a legal obligation to ensure it does not fund projects that cause or contribute to human rights harm - and a responsibility to provide remedy for any harm caused.

I call on EDC to:

* Provide remediation, in consultation with affected communities, for the adverse impacts that EDC financing of the HidroItuango dam helped to produce

* Advocate for the human rights and safety of people who continue to be negatively impacted by the dam, and community leaders who are at risk for defending their rights

* Make sure that disasters like this never happen again by adopting rigorous assessment criteria to screen out transactions with a high risk of human rights and environmental harm.

* Adopt a standard practice of undertaking an independent human rights impact assessment using UN benchmarks, as well as a commitment to international standards of meaningful consultation and the free, prior and informed consent of affected Indigenous peoples.

Yours sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}
{user_data~City}, {user_data~Province}
{user_data~Postal Code}

Add your message

Minister

Mary

Government of Canada

To:
Ms. Mairead Lavery, President, EDC
Hon. Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade

I call on EDC to:

* Provide remediation, in consultation with affected communities, for the adverse impacts that EDC financing of the HidroItuango dam helped to produce

* Advocate for the human rights and safety of people who continue to be negatively impacted by the dam, and community leaders who are at risk for defending their rights

* Make sure that disasters like this never happen again by adopting rigorous assessment criteria to screen out transactions with a high risk of human rights and environmental harm.

Yours sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}
{user_data~City}, {user_data~Province}
{user_data~Postal Code}

Add your message

Your Information

First name

Last name

Street address

Unit

City

Province

Postal code

Country

Phone Number

Email address

I agree to receive Amnesty Canada news and urgent updates.

Campaign Section Structure

Action Counter and Offset

785 people have taken action

The Hidroituango dam cuts across the Cauca River in a region of Colombia hard hit by decades of armed conflict and grave human rights violations.

In 2016, Export Development Canada - a crown corporation that claims its transactions are “environmentally and socially responsible” - approved millions of dollars in loans to Empresas Públicas de Medellin, the company building the HidroItuango dam.

The financing was approved despite warnings by experts, human rights organizations and local communities.

Ríos Vivos, a grassroots movement of families dependent on the Cauca River for their food and livelihoods, has courageously denounced social and environmental impacts of the dam. They’ve also reported forced evictions, increased militarization and worsening violence, including the killing of six of their leaders.

Ríos Vivos has appealed for support and accountability in Canada.

“Without foreign money, Hidroituango would not have been possible,” Ríos Vivos spokesperson Isabel Zuleta told Export Development Canada and Canadian government officials in November 2019.

Take Action

Send a message to Export Development Canada and the International Trade Minister calling for action to address ongoing harm and threats linked to the HidroItuango damm.

JOIN OUR CALL URGING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE HARM CAUSED BY CANADIAN INVESTMENT IN A DISASTROUS DAM.

Learn more

> The defenders of this river are under attack and here’s why action from Canada is vital

> From March 14 to April 22, join us for our “Defending Water, Defending Land” campaign

> Watch this 2-minute video to hear Rios Vivos spokesperson Isabel Zuleta explain why they are challenging the dam

Image: Ríos Vivos spokesperson Isabel Zuleta speaking at FRONT LINE Human Rights Defenders Conference in 2017.
@ Kamil Krawczak

Scripts Block

Canada: Stop investing in environmental and human rights harm

Urge Canada to remedy impacts of Colombia dam investment

Your Information

Learn more

Please correct the errors indicated below.