Monthly Archives: November 2012

2012 Media releases | Water | November 23, 2012

Friends of the Earth calls for investigation into Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s silencing of Canadian salmon scientist

Request seeking immediate action sent to the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development and the Office of the Auditor General of Canada

Ottawa, November 23, 2012 — Friends of the Earth Canada has filed a petition and requested an investigation in response to recent actions by a federal agency to silence a researcher that has played a key role in investigating infectious salmon anemia (ISA) in salmon from British Columbia.

In a recent letter, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) asked the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) to strip the reference lab certification status from Dr. Frederick Kibenge’s lab at the Atlantic Veterinary College in PEI. The lab is a leading facility known for its expertise in detecting diseases in fish — it is one of only two laboratories in the world recognized for its ability to detect ISA in infected fish.

“We are concerned about efforts to silence a scientist who has played a leading role in uncovering the widespread infectious salmon anemia (ISA) in salmon. Given the CFIA’s recent experience with XL Foods Inc. and E. coli, you would think they would pay close attention to this warning of the ISA virus in salmon,” says Beatrice Olivastri, CEO of Friends of the Earth Canada.

“We believe Dr. Frederick Kibenge’s work should have been welcomed, and strategically used in informing CFIA’s own surveillance work to protect wild salmon rather than hide the extent of the spread of the ISA virus,” says Olivastri. “This can only be a witch hunt against someone who doesn’t agree with the government line, and is suffering from the government’s bullying.”

Decertification of the lab would reduce Canadians’ ability to know about the presence of this disease in salmon, and would also have international ramifications, as people from other countries also send samples to the lab.

Friends of the Earth Canada is requesting an independent investigation into the silencing of Canadian scientists and the cover-up of a disease that threatens wild Pacific salmon in British Columbia. The request for investigation, or petition, is addressed to the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development and to the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.

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For more information:

Beatrice Olivastri, CEO, Friends of the Earth Canada, (613) 241-0085, (613) 724-8690 (cell)

Sign a letter to support calls for an investigation

Sign a letter — help stop the silencing of Canada’s scientists.

Read the petition

Read the petition filed by Friends of the Earth Canada.

2012 Media releases | Climate and energy | November 23, 2012

UN climate talks

Friends of the Earth International

November 23, 2012

UN climate talks: Urgent progress still not in sight

DOHA, QATAR, November 23, 2012 — While delegates from around the world prepare to meet for the annual United Nations climate talks in Doha next week, Friends of the Earth International expressed strong concerns over the continued lack of progress by developed countries which are supposed to take the lead to stop climate devastation and avoid catastrophic climate change.¹

The UN climate talks, ongoing now for 20 years, have made little progress in delivering concrete climate action and are now heading backwards. Most recently they agreed 2015 as the date to launch a new treaty to deal with climate action which probably won’t come into force until 2020.²

And many governments look set to attend the talks in Doha to promote a further weakening of the framework for global emissions reductions, while at home they continue to support the expansion of false solutions to the climate crisis.

Global emissions need to peak around 2015 if we are to have a decent chance of bringing emissions down to safe levels in time to prevent a further worsening of the earth’s climate and avoid the unprecedented destruction, insecurity and suffering that catastrophic, irreversible climate change would cause.

Sarah-Jayne Clifton, Friends of the Earth International climate justice coordinator, said:

“From the carnage wrought by Hurricane Sandy to the devastating flooding in Nigeria, the impacts of climate change are now evident for all to see, and alarmingly more frequent. Carbon dioxide levels have reached a record high, setting us on track for a terrifying 6 degrees of warming. Unfortunately developed countries, led by the United States, are accelerating the demolition of the world’s international framework for fair and urgent climate action. And most governments continue to support and advance the very policies that are driving the climate crisis, from dirty fossil fuel extraction of oil, gas and coal to carbon trading, agrofuels, large-scale industrial agriculture and ‘green desert’ plantations.”

The United States, Australia, Canada and Japan continue to be the main players dragging their feet and undermining progress in the UN talks. Europe has pledged an emissions target which will allow its emissions to continue to grow, and continues to push for the expansion of carbon trading, a dangerous scam which only benefits corporations and financial elites. Meanwhile these and other countries are supporting false solutions to the climate crisis and ignoring the voices of people resisting the imposition of destructive projects and the land grabs, displacement and environmental destruction that they cause.

The power of vested interests and multinational corporations and their influence over government policies and UN processes remains at the heart of the ongoing failure of the talks and their recent further unraveling.³ Tackling their influence is essential to unlocking the deadlock, and will unleash multiple other positive impacts like releasing for public benefit the hundreds of billions of dollars in public subsidies to dirty fossil fuel corporations.

Asad Rehman, climate campaigner for Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland said: “Friends of the Earth International is urging governments attending Doha to finally wake up to the reality of the climate crisis and make urgent progress on the foundations of fair and ambitious climate action: emissions cuts in line with science and equity; adequate public finance to support climate action in the developing world; progress on technology transfer; and an end to carbon trading. All are needed to drive forward the transformation of our economies, deliver real sustainable energy and food alternatives, and tackle emissions while improving health and wellbeing for everyone. We are nearly out of time. Without urgent progress governments will face a total loss of confidence in their ability to act in the interests of people and the environment.”

For more information

Asad Rehman, climate campaigner, Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland (in Doha): +44 7956 210332

Sarah-Jayne Clifton, Friends of the Earth International climate justice coordinator: +44 7912 406510

Notes

¹ Developed (Annex I) countries are responsible for three quarters of historic emissions despite only hosting 15% of the world’s population. Because of their historical responsibility for climate change they have a moral and legal obligation under the climate convention to cut their emissions first and fastest and to provide adequate public finance for climate action by developing countries.

² Last year at COP 17 in Durban, South Africa, instead of making progress on implementing the existing negotiating roadmap agreed in Bali in 2007, parties agreed to launch a whole new round of negotiations on an agreement to cover climate action. The Durban Platform (ADP) will commence negotiations in Doha and is due to finish its work by 2015. There is a very high risk that the Durban Platform will delay action on emissions for another ten years, lock in low ambition, undermine the principles of equity and justice in the global climate framework, and further deregulate the framework, leading to a system even weaker and less effective than the Kyoto Protocol. At COP 18 in Doha countries are supposed to be finalising the targets for developed country emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol second commitment period; making progress on climate finance and comparable emissions reductions targets for the United States (which is not party to the Kyoto Protocol); and commencing negotiations on the Durban Platform.

³ 400 global civil society organizations and social movements have denounced corporate capture as a root cause of failing environmental multilateral negotiations. Clear demands were presented to the UN earlier this year to help put an end to the excessive and harmful influence of corporations over processes like the UN climate talks. So far the UN did not issue a public response. Friends of the Earth International’s report on the corporate capture of the UN is available at:

http://www.foei.org/en/resources/publications/pdfs/2012/reclaim-the-un-from-corporate-capture/view

Friends of the Earth International is demanding:

Urgent, binding and deep emissions cuts by developed countries in line with science and equity
Provision by developed countries of adequate climate finance and technology transfer to developing countries for sustainable development and adaptation to climate impact
An end to carbon trading and offsetting
A top-down framework for future climate action which respects and reasserts the principles in the UNFCCC, including the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR), and which includes binding emissions targets for developed countries and no new market mechanisms
Efforts by all governments to drive forward the transformation of our unsustainable economies, protecting the rights and livelihoods of communities and delivering a safe climate and greater health and wellbeing for all.

2012 Media releases | Extractive industries | Water | November 22, 2012

Demand the release of unjustly detained Guatemalan prisoners

Friends of the Earth International

November 22, 2012

Join Friends of the Earth International in calling for the release of eight political prisoners in Barillas, Guatemala, who are due before a hearing on November 26.

Send an email to the Guatemalan authorities.

Eleven people were arrested without charge on May 2, 2012 in a flagrant violation of their rights. Several of those arrested had protested the killing of a community member by private security guards working for Spanish company Hidralia SA. Others were simply randomly picked up.

Hidralia SA is building the Santa Cruz hydroelectric dam. Over 90% of local community members are opposed to and voted against the implementation of hydroelectric and mining projects in Barillas in a 2007 consultation.

Eight people remain in prison over seven months after the arrests, as verified by Friends of the Earth International’s Solidarity Mission in November this year.

The prisoners are also concerned for the wellbeing of their wives and children who have been deprived of their main household income. Many struggle with heavy debt burdens. The bus journey from their home communities to the prison takes twelve hours, making it difficult for families to visit.

The prisoners have been labeled as terrorists, despite the fact that they were either peacefully defending their communities or not involved at all.

Three of the prisoners have since been released.

The arbitrary nature of the detention of the political prisoners of Barillas cannot be denied nor concealed, it appears in the reports of several human rights groups, as well as in the file of the case and in the legal actions brought by the lawyers of the detainees.

You can support the prisoners of Barillas by sending a letter to the Guatemalan authorities and the Spanish Embassy. This action will only succeed with the solidarity of a large number of supporters, so spread the word by sharing this action on Facebook, Twitter and by email.

Take action now!

Send an email to the Guatemalan authorities

For more information

Article published by Radio Mundo Real in English | Español

Friends of the Earth International press release

Extractive industries | Radio Mundo Real | Water | November 20, 2012

Golden lie

Interview with Milton Carrera from the resistance in San José del Golfo, near Guatemala City

Radio Mundo Real

November 20, 2012

Just 28 kilometres from Guatemala City, between the towns of San José del Golfo and San Pedro de Ayanpuc the peasant communities are resisting the actions of Canadian company Radius Gold Inc., which has operated a silver and gold mine in the area since 2000. Until now, the company has developed the exploration process. It decided to start the drilling this year, after the government approved the exploitation license, which allows activities in an area of 20 km² for 25 years.

Milton Carrera, a community leader, said the communities realized that the company was planning to come to their territories and started to demand clear answers. “They lied to us, the gold man and the ministry of energy and mines lied to us about the project. They said we were crazy, that nothing was going to happen but we just found out about one year and a half ago that they would come here, but also we found out that there are 14 projects around.”

The community has blocked and prevented the entry of the company for the last 9 months since March of this year. They organized to defend water, land and life against the mining project. “If we don’t produce agriculture since the water is going to be contaminated, what are we going to do? We are going to die,” said the leader.

After 9 months of resistance, he said that they never know how long the struggle is going to last. They continue resisting and demanding the company to leave. To confront and intimidate them, the company is misinforming people and causing divide among them. It pays people to pretend to be mining workers and confront their own families to allow the entrance of the company. At the same time, the government has supported the company not only by providing the license, but also through military presence to protect the corporation and secure its profits.

On Tuesday, November 12, “they started to send workers from the mine, we’ve been fighting here for almost four days now, sleeping almost here. The people haven’t worked for four days, but that’s all what we can do now to survive, they are bringing their own homes here to the resistance.”

The solidarity mission was in San José del Golfo to bring the message of support and solidarity with this struggle in defense of life, the same struggle that communities and organizations are fighting around the world. “We have dignity and we have shown our kids what it is to fight with dignity, that’s what we can show, if we want to gain something, we can do it.”

By Lyda Forero, Transnational Institute (TNI)

Original article published by Radio Mundo Real in English

2012 Media releases | Extractive industries | Water | November 19, 2012

International mission in Guatemala and El Salvador

Transnational corporations pillage natural resources and violate human rights

Friends of the Earth International

November 19, 2012

SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR, November 19, 2012 — An international mission organized by the environmental federation Friends of the Earth International in Guatemala and El Salvador has verified systematic human rights violations and criminalization of environmental activists and communities resisting mining and hydroelectric projects.

The mission was organized from November 13 to 19 by Friends of the Earth El Salvador (CESTA) and Friends of the Earth Guatemala (CEIBA) with the participation of allied organizations including the Transnational Institute and member groups of La Vía Campesina.

The cases of resistance visited by the mission in Guatemala included: the resistance against Marlin mine, owned by Canadian corporation Goldcorp in San Miguel Ixtahuacán municipality; the situation of the political prisoners of Santa Cruz Barillas who were arbitrarily arrested in May 2012 for resisting the building of a hydroelectric dam owned by Spanish corporation Hidralia SA, and finally the resistance of the residents of San José del Golfo to the installation of Exmingua mine, owned by Canadian Radius Gold Corporation.

The delegates of the mission in El Salvador were informed in detail about the struggle of the Environmental Committee of Cabañas department to avoid the installation of a gold and silver extractive project in El Dorado by Canadian corporation Pacific Rim.

The representatives of the environmental federation included the chair of Friends of the Earth International, Jagoda Munić from Croatia, as well as delegates from the Philippines, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Honduras, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Sweden.

“After talking with the affected communities, there is a feeling of sadness and outrage because of the situation they are going through,” said FoEI chair, Jagoda Munić.

She expressed international solidarity with the struggle of the communities affected in Guatemala and with the defense of human rights, and affirmed Friends of the Earth International’s responsibility to continue supporting the resisting communities.

“The communities that are resisting have been accused of terrorism. We have been able to verify that, far from it, they are defending their territories and their livelihood,” said Jagoda Munić.

Lastly, Jagoda Munić condemned the arbitrary detentions of the leaders of the resistance and said the international community will be waiting for the outcome of the hearing to be held next November 26 by the Guatemalan judiciary, where a decision regarding those who are still detained over the case of Santa Cruz Barillas will be issued.

Meanwhile, the chair of Friends of the Earth Spain, Victor Barro, said “The investment in Latin America by corporations that claim to be Spanish, like Hidralia SA, Telefonica, Union Fenosa and Aguas de Barcelona has caused socio-environmental conflicts and human rights violations. These actions ensure the perpetuation of the European way of life, which is currently in crisis and affects more and more people in both regions. A proof of this was the general strike recently held in Europe.”

Barro also expressed the message given by the political prisoners he visited at the prison of Region 18 in Guatemala City: “The company should leave our families alone and they should get out of our territories.”

Meanwhile, Danilo Urrea of Friends of the Earth Colombia (CENSAT) talked about the different cases of resistance visited during the mission. “We are witnessing a structural crisis of the extractivist and patriarchal model caused by the breaking of relations between society and nature. This is shown in the territorialization of capital and the financialization of nature, which leads to displacement and human rights violations.”

Danilo added “Colombia is an example of the criminalization of the protests and the struggle through laws and through the militarization of the territories all over Latin America. The disappearance of leaders and the displacement has become one of the strategies used by the corporations to dismantle the struggle and to take over territories.”

Lyda Forero of the Transnational Institute said the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal that gathered between 2006 and 2010 heard many cases of corporations that violate human rights in Central America. “Two years later, we verify that the human rights violations exposed before the Tribunal continue and are getting worse.”

The delegates of the international mission said the economic and ecological crimes committed by transnational corporations in the case of Marlin and Barillas mines in Guatemala and of Pacific Rim in El Salvador are symptomatic of global systemic problems.

They also exposed the crimes committed by transnational corporations with the complicity of governments (which adopt laws in favour of corporations even above community rights) by way of international trade or investment treaties.

The delegates of the international mission called on the European Members of Parliament to reject the Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Central America in order to prevent Europe from becoming an accomplice of the crimes committed by transnational corporations in Central America.

The European Parliament is about to ratify the Partnership Agreement between the EU and Central America on December 11 to 13.

The delegates of the mission were clear that transnational corporations are confronting communities and dividing families through the transfer of funds and misleading advertising as part of their corporate social responsibility strategy.

The mission expressed the need to end the impunity of transnational corporations in Central America.

It also expressed the need for transnational corporations to leave the affected territories and compensate the impacted communities.

It also called for the release of the political prisoners who were criminalized for civil resistance, and in the case of El Salvador, they called for the clarification of the murders and persecutions committed against environmental activists, with all the legal and ethical guarantees.

The international mission will write a preliminary report of its actions to be circulated soon.

For more information

Media contacts

In English:

Jagoda Munić, Chair of Friends of the Earth International: jagoda [at] zelena-akcija.hr

In Spanish:

Ricardo Navarro, Chair of Friends of the Earth El Salvador (Centro Salvadoreño de Tecnología Apropiada): cesta [at] cesta-foe.org.sv
Victor Barro, Chair of Friends of the Earth Spain: presidencia [at] tierra.org

Extractive industries | Radio Mundo Real | Water | November 19, 2012

Months of resistance

Protesters block entrance to Canadian mine in Guatemala City

Radio Mundo Real

November 19, 2012

San José del Golfo and San Pedro de Ayampuc are two towns near Guatemala City that have been affected by gold and silver mining. Mining activities began in the area in 2000 but the community only found out in 2010.

Radius Gold Corporation is operating in the area as a counterpart for Explotaciones Mineras de Guatemala (Exmingua). Servicios Mineros de Centroamérica is a subsidiary that exerts pressure among the population and does the so called social corporate responsibility work.

Antonio Reyes, leader in defense of the territory, says “they are just taking advantage of people’s misery and of people’s knowledge to persuade them and gain their support.”

The license for the exploitation of the mine is for 25 years in a 20 km² area, where they plan to have 14 mining projects. This area includes the municipality of San José del Golfo and the largest village, Choleña. It also includes communities of the neighbouring municipality San Pedro de Ayampuc. Mining exploitation threatens 5,000 families that depend on agriculture for their livelihood and who would be automatically left out of work, without resources to produce food and no possibility of satisfying their basic needs.

“The mining corporation offers economic development to the families and communities and has the nerve to hand out flyers saying that they bring economic development and that they will create 70 jobs over five or seven years. Then they leave and leave people unemployed while 5,000 families who live on agriculture are left out of work for life,” Reyes told Real World Radio.

There is plenty of water in the area where the exploitation Project is located. This situation alerts the organized communities against mining, because they find the project incompatible with water availability and the fertile soil. Also, the infrastructure projects, such as paving the road, will not be beneficial for the communities, they would just serve the exploitation and benefit of the transnational corporation, while water runs out.

“On March 2, 2012 several people of the community began the resistance. A woman saw one of the bulldozers coming and she was so outraged to see how they were entering our territories without prior consultation, how they were moving lands and logging the forest, that she told the vehicle she could not go through. So people started to join her,” said Reyes. The community leader said people’s outrage has contributed to join several social groups around a common objective: defending life, regardless of their political affiliation, religion, ethnic group or social sector, they all want to live and they are defending water preservation.

As months go by and the organized community continues to block the entrance to the mine, the situation is becoming more tense, since the company is paying groups of people from the region to confront the demonstrators, a strategy to divide the community.

However, Reyes said that they will continue fighting and demonstrating peacefully. We are convinced that this is the only way for the government and the mining corporations to stop doing whatever they want and we are convinced that we are legally entitled to do this. We don’t mind dying, we hope it will not happen but if we die it does not matter because that would strengthen the resistance.”

Original article by Radio Mundo Real in English | Español

Extractive industries | Radio Mundo Real | Water | November 16, 2012

Goldcorp: Environmental crimes

Canadian mining corporation and its criminal record in Guatemala

Radio Mundo Real

November 16, 2012

As part of the International Solidarity Mission organized by Friends of the Earth and the Transnational Institute in Guatemala and El Salvador, there follows an analysis of the Canadian corporation Goldcorp and its record of exploitation and divide of communities where it operates.

Goldcorp is the owner of the Marlin mine, which has been in San Miguel de Ixtahuacán municipality since 2005. In 2011 the mine produced over 380,000 ounces of gold with a profit of over $600 million.

The Guatemalan government authorized the exploitation of an area of 20 km² for 25 years, of which it has so far exploited nearly 2 km² with serious effects on the population of the region.

As a result of the installation of the company, the communities of San Miguel Ixtahuacán have suffered serious health damage, the pollution of water caused by sediments and the use of cyanide, the destruction of the territories and their homes as a result of the use of explosives to extract gold, the payment of low salaries to local workers and the need to migrate because of the danger they are exposed to.

The communities of the region have opposed the action of the mine for years. At first through community consultations, which were neither recognized by the government nor by the mine, and later by exposing the economic and ecological crimes before the local authorities, as well as national and international opinion tribunals by demanding the respect of ILO’s Convention 169.

However, the strong resistance and defense for life and nature, both for this and for future generations, has been criminalized and persecuted, with the complicity of the government of Guatemala, which signs laws in favour of transnational corporations and against the peoples’ rights.

The mining company “Montana Exploradora” (Goldcorp) has developed a series of programs of Corporate Social Responsibility that imply a minimum investment. They ignore the community process and have managed to divide the communities that used to reject them by even causing violence among the members of the community. The Guatemalan government has been complicit in these crimes by protecting the company and ignoring the communities’ demands.

The Canadian government is also responsible for human rights violations by allowing its corporations to act above the law and to seek to operate through Bilateral Investment Treaties or Free Trade Agreements.

Original article by Radio Mundo Real in English | Español

Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license

Extractive industries | Radio Mundo Real | Water | November 16, 2012

Defending the territory

First day of Friends of the Earth solidarity tour in Central America

Radio Mundo Real

November 16, 2012

At the beginning of the Friends of the Earth International tour of solidarity with the communities affected by mining, dams and megaprojects in El Salvador and Guatemala, the delegation visited the Marlin mine, operated by Canadian corporation Goldcorp.

In order to learn more about the first impressions of the Friends of the Earth International delegation, Real World Radio spoke in Guatemala with Lucia Ortiz, coordinator of the Economic Justice and Resisting Neoliberalism program of Friends of the Earth.

Marlin mine is in San Miguel Itxahuacán municipality. It occupies a surface of nearly 20 km.² The concession was granted to the company to operate the mine for 25 years. “The pollution of both soil and water can be seen and it is affecting several areas. This is an example of what could happen if gold mining expands in the region,” said the geologist.

Water pollution is one of the issues that called the attention of the activists because “the rocks that have gone through this processing go back to the mountains and are once again exposed to rain and through the lixiviation process the water ends up polluting the rivers. Later that waste ends up on the lake and the polluting liquids go through other rivers. That river (Cuilco) even brings this pollution to Mexico.”

Popular consultations were organized in Guatemala where almost all the population said NO to mining concessions and exploitations. They have become a world example of resistance to transnational corporations. For this reason, said Ortiz, FoEI is there to support the communities that resist the mining process.

“It is unbelievable that these polluting corporations still have the nerve to call themselves green or environment-friendly through corporate social responsibility projects,” she said, considering the pollution they cause as well as the loss of biodiversity near the mine, but also in terms of the cultural conflicts that arise as a result of the privatization of a public space.

“Building a diner for a primary school or privatizing the area of a cemetery is not what people need, people need to live in a healthy environment,” said the member of FoE Brazil.

Original article by Radio Mundo Real in English | Español | Português

Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license

Extractive industries | Radio Mundo Real | Water | November 16, 2012

Poisoned rights

Crisanta Pérez: Testimony of the criminalization of resistance to Goldcorp in San Miguel Ixtahuacán (Guatemala)

Radio Mundo Real

November 16, 2012

On the first day of the Solidarity Mission organized by Friends of the Earth International and the Transnational Institute (TNI) of the Netherlands, which aims to reclaim the rights of communities affected and resisting open pit metal mining in Guatemala and El Salvador, the delegation visited Marlin gold mine, owned by Canadian corporation Goldcorp.

Even though it started operating only five years ago, the effects can already be seen, including: deaths, water privatization, poisoning of the river, eviction of peasant and indigenous population and criminalization of those who defend their territory.

The delegation, which include newly elected Friends of the Earth chair, Jagoda Munić, the 2011 Goldman Prize laureate Francisco Pineda, TNI member Lyda Ferrero, together with activists from Colombia, Honduras, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, Spain and Philippines arrived in the Parrish of San Miguel Ixtahuacán to meet with a dozen activists that provided their testimonies about the resistance and its consequences.

One of them was Crisanta Perez, member of the Frente de Defensa Miguelense, against whom Montana corporation filed several accusations. Montana is a subsidiary of Canadian corporation Goldcorp.

Crisanta together with seven other women of Mam communities organized around the municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacán, were prosecuted for damage against the company when the corporation threw high voltage power lines to the industrial plant through their lands, by placing high voltage power lines and electricity posts above their houses.

The persecution led to her exile to Mexico, far from her children and community and her later detention when she was going back to her community to give birth.

“After all that process we were released but we are not really free because the judge told us that we should spend two years with disciplinary measures, so we cannot enforce our rights,” said Crisanta.

She also described the recent confrontation with the corporation as a result of the drillings to find water amid the community water wells that could lead to new accusations.

“Those water springs give us life. Our grandparents lived there, they would wash their clothes there, and this is our concern,” she said.

Men and women from Mam communities provided clear testimonies of environmental and human rights violations, including the right to proper food, access to water and education. They also claim that the mining corporation has hired people from the communities to defend the company’s interests, which has led to division and conflict.

“They want us out of the communities and we cannot live anywhere else,” said Crisanta. Resistance to mining has had the fundamental support of the parish of San Miguel, as well as of several other organizations.

However, Crisanta criticized that the support it sporadic because of the worsening of the situation under the current government of military Otto Pérez Molina. Marlin-Montana has a relatively small area for exploitation (20 km²), but its environmental and social effects are felt for many miles around and they even reach Mexico.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the international delegation will visit seven political prisoners who were arrested after the uprising of Santa Cruz Barillas against the installation of a hydroelectric plant by Hidralia. The group will provide its first impressions of the tour in a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

Original article published by Radio Mundo Real in English | Español

Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license

2012 Media releases | Climate and energy | Environmental justice | November 4, 2012

Friends of the Earth International Chair Nnimmo Bassey awarded Rafto Prize

Friends of the Earth International

November 4, 2012

Friends of the Earth International Chair Nnimmo Bassey awarded 2012 Rafto Prize for Human Rights

BERGEN (NORWAY) / LAGOS (NIGERIA), November 4, 2012 — Friends of the Earth International, the world’s largest federation of grassroots environmental organizations, is proud to announce that its chair, Nnimmo Bassey, who is also Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria,¹ received the 2012 Rafto Prize for Human Rights² in Norway on November 4.

The Rafto Prize for Human Rights has been awarded to advocates of human rights and democracy every year since 1987. Several Rafto Laureates have subsequently been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.³

The 2012 Rafto Prize was awarded to Nnimmo Bassey in recognition of his long-term fight for people’s rights to life, health, food and water in a world affected by climate change and mass environmental destruction.

“Through his rights based work and criticism of prevailing systems, Bassey has shown how human rights can help mitigate the effects of these changes,” says the Rafto Foundation.

Nnimmo Bassey said:

“I am honoured and humbled by this announcement. I hold the Rafto Foundation in high esteem for its commitment to human right defenders. I have campaigned on oil pollution and human rights in Nigeria for decades. Standing with impacted communities we continually demand justice. We press on, convinced that truth will prevail.”

Nnimmo Bassey is one of Africa’s leading advocates and campaigners for the environment and human rights. Bassey has tirelessly stood up against the practices of multinational corporations and the environmental devastation they leave behind, destroying the lives and trampling on the rights of local people.

A Rafto Conference, “Human Rights Threatened by Climate Change,” was held on Saturday, November 3 in Bergen and Heikki Eidsvoll Holmås, Norwegian Minister of International Development, opened the conference.

For more information

Kari Amble, The Rafto Foundation, Head of Information, Tel: +47 55 21 09 75, Mobile: +47 91 31 44 17, E-mail: kari.amble [at] rafto.no

Nnimmo Bassey, Friends of the Earth International chair, Tel: +234 80 37 27 43 95 (Nigerian mobile number) or email nnimmo [at] eraction.org

Notes to editors

¹ For Nnimmo Bassey’s biography and a selection of high-resolution, free to use photo portraits go to http://www.foei.org/en/media/photos/nnimmo-bassey-photos

² For more information about the Rafto Prize 2012 please visit: www.rafto.no and http://www.rafto.no/article/484/The_2012_Rafto_Prize_events/tags:News%20

³ The Rafto Laureates whom have subsequently been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize are: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma (Rafto Prize in 1990), people of East‐Timor by José Ramos‐Horta (Rafto Prize in 1993), Kim Dae‐jung, South‐Korea (Rafto Prize in 2000), and Shirin Ebadi, Iran (Rafto Prize in 2001).