Afternoon Interactive Workshops – Day II 

Defenders at Risk in Development: Emerging Strategies

Time: 2:45 PM to 4:15 PM

Room: N102

Participants

• Carla García Zendejas, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) (facilitator)

• Stephanie Amoako, Accountability Counsel

• Katharine Valencia, Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF)

Background Information

Diversified sources of funding for development projects throughout the world are allowing environmental and human rights defenders to leverage international financial institutions (IFI) and IFI independent accountability mechanisms in their campaigns and advocacy. At the same time, the closing of civil society space globally creates dangerous obstacles for defenders who face reprisals and violent repression for their advocacy.

This workshop will:

• Showcase research and case studies that highlight advocacy efforts that bridge private and public finance;

• Review current trends at the World Bank Group and other institutions that are recognizing these risks to defenders and to their own reputations; and

• Explore a case from Nicaragua using the Inter-American Human Rights System as a complementary tool to IFI accountability mechanisms.

Workshop participants will discuss recent developments in standards relevant to environmental defenders.

Resources

• IFC Position Statement on Retaliation Against Civil Society and Project Stakeholders

• Defenders in Development Campaign of the Coalition for Human Rights in Development 

• Escazú Agreement - Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean

• An Open Letter to States and Development Financiers on the need to ensure that development interventions support the realization of human rights, safeguard human rights defenders and guarantee meaningful public participation. 

• Guide for Independent Accountability Mechanisms on Measures to Address the Risk of Reprisals in Complaint Management:  A Practical Toolkit

• UN Human Rights Council adopts first-of-its-kind resolution recognizing the importance of environmental human rights defenders and their protection. 2019

• UN Special Rapporteur Michel Forst’s report on increasing attacks on human rights defenders in the context of business and investment activities, including development finance. 2017 

• Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) –Integral Protection Policies for Human Rights Defenders 2017

• UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst

• Violence against environmental defenders – New UN major report urges zero-tolerance. 2016 

• Press Release from Asia Pacific Peoples Forum on Sustainable Development: Over 100 Civil Society Organisations and Activists Demand Development Justice for Sustainable Development

• One Year after the Onset of the Crisis in Nicaragua, IACHR Once Again Expresses Its Permanent Commitment to Victims of Human Rights Violations, April 2019

• Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) –Gross Human Rights Violations in the Context of Social Protests in Nicaragua

• Report: Access to Information and Human Rights, and Extractives: the Cases of Nicaragua, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic (in Spanish)

• Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), Report on the violent events that took place in Nicaragua between April 18th and May 30th, 2018 (Executive Summary)