Photo: “Indigenous people from the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon park an Extinction Rebellion sailboat outside COP25 venue demanding an end to the murders of Indigenous activists. ‘The people responsible for this genocide are inside negotiating,’ says a Colombian Indigenous leader.” – Julia Thomas

There are growing concerns that language referencing human rights is being written out the text of climate accords, that there are insufficient protection measures for the human rights defenders who oppose to climate harmful megaprojects, and about the impacts climate change itself will have on human rights.

Human rights written out

The Guardian reports, “Mary Robinson, former UN high commissioner for human rights [says] some countries were still reluctant to include the language of human rights in official UN outcomes from the [COP 25 climate] talks [in Madrid].”

Grist has noted, “When the Paris Agreement was signed, parties outlined a vision that recognized nations must respect and protect human rights [but by the time of COP24 in Poland] the latest draft of the Paris Rulebook (which outlines what countries need to do to put the accord into action) omits a human rights reference.”

And Mongabay now reports, “One specific aspect of Article 6 enshrined in the original Paris Agreement calls for guaranteeing ‘the protection of human rights’ in all aspects of [the admittedly controversial policy of] carbon trading.”

“But as [World Resources Institute senior associate Kelly] Levin noted after a revised draft of Article 6 was released late Saturday night, December 7, language ‘safeguarding human rights has disappeared from the text.’”

Protection needed for human rights defenders

The UN Human Rights Council has passed a resolution that “stresses that human rights defenders … must be ensured a safe and enabling environment … in recognition of their important role in supporting States to fulfil their obligations under the Paris Agreement.”

The Women and Gender Constituency has stated, “We want to highlight that women environmental rights defenders continue to be on the front lines to save the planet, especially indigenous, black and those from the global south, and yet are harassed, threatened and persecuted by those in authority in their own countries and elsewhere.”

And Katharina Rall from Human Rights Watch has noted, “The frequent attacks and threats against environmental rights defenders throughout the world are an example of why governments need to include protecting rights in their climate policies.”

Impacts on human rights

The Bogota Post has reported, “It is Colombia’s campesinos, who have already borne the brunt of a long conflict, who are likely to be hit hardest [by climate change].”

Furthermore, Lauren Markham has commented, “In Honduras, rainfall will be sparse in areas where it is needed, yet in other areas, floods will increase by 60%. In Guatemala, the arid regions will creep further and further into current agricultural areas, leaving farmers out to dry.”

Philip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, has stated, “Human rights might not survive the coming upheaval.”

COP26 in Glasgow

National Geographic has explained, “In the 2015 Agreement (which went into effect in 2016), countries agreed to aim to cut their emissions by some self-determined amount by either 2025 or 2030, and to keep revising those goals every five years until then.”

Vox reports, “The COP in Glasgow in November 2020 will mark five years since the signing of the Paris agreement, and it’s the meeting when countries are expected to present their next round of commitments to curb their contributions to climate change.”

The task at hand

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has stated, “We call on leaders and governments to recognise that climate change and environmental degradation severely undermine the human rights of their people.”

COP26 will take place from November 9 to 19 in Glasgow, Scotland.

That will be a pivotal moment to reinsert human rights language in climate agreements, to strengthen protection measures for human rights defenders, and to commit to deeper carbon emission reductions to avoid worsening climate breakdown and the further infringement of human rights.

On December 10, Greta Thunberg tweeted, “On human rights day, we call for climate action. The climate crisis is the biggest threat to human rights and human rights need to be at the center of the climate crisis.”

Presently at the United Nations COP25 climate summit in Madrid, Spain, Thunberg also met with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. She has previously commented, in reference to the crisis of climate change, “The world has never seen a threat to human rights of this scope.”

Canada, Norway violating children’s human rights

Newsweek also reports, “Greta Thunberg and 15 other young climate activists have accused Canada and Norway of violating children’s human rights by refusing to move away from gas and oil production.”

That article further explains, “Both countries are accused of ‘violating the rights bestowed on every child in the world’ under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child by increasing their oil production despite knowing about the climate emergency.”

This is in line with the statement by five UN human rights treaty bodies this past September that highlighted, “Failure to take measures to prevent foreseeable human rights harm caused by climate change, or to regulate activities contributing to such harm, could constitute a violation of States’ human rights obligations.”

Their statement also noted, “[The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report confirms that climate change poses significant risks to the enjoyment of the human rights protected by the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”

Specifically, “The adverse impacts identified in the report, threaten, among others, the right to life, the right to adequate food, the right to adequate housing, the right to health, the right to water and cultural rights.”

The need to protect human rights defenders to address the climate crisis

Peace Brigades International accompanies human rights defenders who struggle against some of the biggest accelerants of climate breakdown, including fracking, hydroelectric dams, deforestation, palm oil plantations, and mining.

In October 2017, Katharina Rall from Human Rights Watch wrote, “The frequent attacks and threats against environmental rights defenders throughout the world are an example of why governments need to include protecting rights in their climate policies.”

She highlighted, “Unless governments stop the criminalization of defenders, protect those who defend the environment, and respect due process show a larger commitment to human rights, any efforts to protect the climate will easily be blocked.”

On March 20 of this year, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution that says, “Human rights defenders, including environmental human rights defenders, must be ensured a safe and enabling environment to undertake their work free from hindrance and insecurity.”

That resolution “urges States to develop and appropriately resource protection initiatives for human rights defenders.”

At the UN COP25 climate summit in Madrid, Extinction Rebellion and allies held an action earlier this week to commemorate the 164 activists killed in the Global South for trying to defend their lands from corporate extractivism.

Peace Brigades International is now considering how to further highlight the need to protect human rights defenders when the COP26 climate summit takes place in Glasgow, Scotland this coming November 9-19, 2020.

Today is Human Rights Day!

As the United Nations notes, “Human Rights Day commemorates the 10 December 1948 adoption by the UN General Assembly of the landmark Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaims the inalienable rights of all people.”

The UN adds, “It is an annual reminder that everyone is entitled to all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, social origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other status.”

Key human rights include the right to peaceful social protest, the right to a healthy environment, the right to clean water, the Indigenous right to free, prior and informed consent (notably against extractive industries and mega-projects), the right to freedom of expression (including by journalists and social communicators), the right to sexual orientation and gender identity, the right to migration, and the right not to be tortured or forcibly disappeared.

And as the UN COP25 climate summit continues on this day in Madrid, Spain we are mindful of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s comment on climate change: “The world has never seen a threat to human rights of this scope.”

Bachelet has highlighted, “The economies of all nations, the institutional, political, social and cultural fabric of every state, and the rights of all your people, and future generations, will be impacted [by climate change].”

Human rights defenders play a critical role in upholding human rights and their right to defend human rights without threats, restrictions and insecurity must also be fully respected.

In 2018, 321 defenders in 27 countries were targeted and killed for their work according to data collected by Front Line Defenders. More than three-quarters of the activists killed were defending land, environmental or indigenous peoples’ rights, often in the context of extractive industries and state-aligned mega-projects.

In the countries where Peace Brigades International has field projects: 126 human rights defenders were killed in Colombia, 48 in Mexico, 26 in Guatemala, 8 in Honduras, and 1 in Kenya. Many more were threatened and criminalized.

To support the physical and political accompaniment provided by Peace Brigades International to at-risk human rights defenders, please consider making an online donation here.

On December 9, Extinction Rebellion Spain posted, “At least 164 Earth defenders were killed in 2018, many of them indigenous. Minga Indígena and Extinction Rebellion Beyond Borders demand COP25 listen to the indigenous people NOW.”

Those killed were individuals who worked to protect their land/territory, water and air and stop major drivers of climate change, including mining and extractives, agribusiness, deforestation, and hydroelectric dams.

Extinction Rebellion has previously noted, “Last year, 164 activists were killed in the Global South for trying to defend their lands from corporate extractivism. Yesterday [October 9], rebels all over the world held vigils to honour them, coming together in a global solidarity action.”

“The figure of 164 deaths is only an estimate. The real figure is likely to be much higher. Two indigenous activists are murdered every week for defending their lands from Western extractivist corporations, and their names are rarely known widely around the world.”

On October 18, Peace Brigades International-Canada attended an Extinction Rebellion Ottawa action and remembered those killed. To read more on that, please see Extinction Rebellion Ottawa acknowledges land defenders killed protecting the environment.

COP25 in Madrid

The United Nations COP25 climate summit in Madrid provides an opportunity for States to build on the language regarding human rights obligations in the Paris Agreement, include human rights in the Paris Rulebook, reinforce language and practices to protect human rights defenders from threats or attacks, and to ensure that all measures adopted to address climate change are situated within a human rights framework.

To read further context on this, please see The UN COP25 climate summit and the need to protect human rights defenders.

PBI accompaniment

In 2018, 84 Peace Brigades International volunteers accompanied, observed, and made office rounds on 1,334 occasions to support human rights defenders.

The impact of that accompaniment is tangible.

Ivan Madero from the Colombian group CREDHOS has stated, “The political deterrence that PBI creates is fundamental.” Lorena Cabnal, an Indigenous feminist in Guatemala, says, “I believe that without PBI’s accompaniment I would not be here today.”

And yet the need for greater protection remains clear.

In 2018, in the countries where PBI has field projects that accompany at-risk defenders, 24 land and environment defenders were killed in Colombia, 16 in Guatemala, 14 in Mexico, 4 in Honduras, and 2 in Kenya.