For more than a decade, Azerbaijani authorities have been restricting space for civil society. NGOs have been arbitrarily shut down and civil society activists and journalists arrested or forced into exile. Since the announcement of Azerbaijan as the host state of COP29 last year, the clampdown on critical voices has intensified, resulting in arrests and Weiterlesen
On 10 September Jani Silva, a defender of land, territory and the environment and the president of ADISPA, an organization managing a peasant reserve zone in the Colombian Amazon (department of Putumayo), received a phone call threatening to “blow you up, car and all”. Jani and ADISPA have protection measures in place, provided by the government’s National Protection Unit (UNP). Weiterlesen
On Saturday, 14th September, environmental defender and coordinator of the Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Assets (CMDBCPT) Juan López was murdered as he was leaving his work as a community and religious leader in the parish of San Isidro Labrador in the municipality of Tocoa, department of Colón, northern Honduras. Weiterlesen
In the Ecuadorian Amazon, the government is not complying with a ruling won by nine young activists together with the organization Unión de Afectados por Texaco—UDAPT requiring ending gas flares, which consume the rights of local communities with flames and toxic gases and contribute enormously to climate change. Demand the president of Ecuador to eliminate Weiterlesen
Ilham Mahmudi and Taufik, two fishermen from the province of North Sumatra, are on trial for trying to save their coastal village from flooding. They face up to five and a half years in prison after being charged with alleged group violence and damage to property. Local non-governmental organizations and legal advocates see the charges as unjust criminalization in connection with their activities as environmental activists. Together with their community, Ilham Mahmudi and Taufik are working to protect the mangrove forest in the area from encroachment, which they fear could lead to flooding and submerge their village. The Indonesian authorities must ensure fair and impartial prosecution and grant them the right to a fair trial. Weiterlesen
