UN Special Rapporteur David R. Boyd to speak at PBI webinar on COP26, November 6

David R. Boyd, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, will introduce our webinar on land defenders and the United Nations COP26 climate summit on Saturday November 6.

To register for that webinar in English/Spanish, click here.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted to recognize the human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

The right obliges states to protect against environmental harm, to provide equal access to environmental benefits and to ensure a minimum standard of environmental quality for everyone to enjoy.

Boyd commented: “This resolution is especially important for all of the environmental human rights defenders working, often at great personal risk, to safeguard the land, air, water and ecosystems that we all depend on.”

Boyd further urged leaders who will meet at the UN COP26 conference in Glasgow starting on October 31 to put human rights at the centre of their actions.

We believe that centering should include COP26 affirming the Human Rights Council resolution that stresses that defenders “must be ensured a safe and enabling environment to undertake their work free from hindrance and insecurity, in recognition of their important role in supporting States to fulfil their obligations under the Paris Agreement.”

Global Witness has documented that there were 227 lethal attacks against land and environmental rights defenders in 2020. That includes 65 defenders in Colombia, 30 in Mexico, 17 in Honduras, 13 in Guatemala and 12 in Nicaragua.

Boyd will be speaking alongside defenders from these countries.

Our webinar will feature Danilo Rueda from Colombia, Juana Ramona Zuñiga from Honduras, Amaru Ruiz from Nicaragua, and a defender with Salvemos los cerros from Mexico. We will have confirmation soon about the speakers from Guatemala and Kenya.

The webinar will be on Saturday November 6 at 11 am (Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Chihuahua, Mexico), 12 pm (Colombia), 1 pm (Ontario/Washington, DC), 7 pm (European time) and 8 pm (Kenya).

To register for it, please click here.

Danilo Rueda, Juana Ramona Zuñiga, Amaru Ruiz.