Source: Amnesty International –
“We’re experiencing intergenerational battle fatigue… We physically won’t survive [this]. We were never the instigators but we have taken the brunt of all the violence,” said Wet’suwet’en land defender Tsakë ze’ Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), while describing the imminent construction of new compressors set to increase the profitability of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline in Canada.
Extracting, processing and transporting fossil fuels undermines the human rights of neighbouring communities and causes severe environmental degradation, health risks, and loss of culture and livelihood.
Some of the groups interviewed described extraction as a form of economic or cultural pillage, perpetrated by corporate actors through intimidation and coercion. “We are not after money; we only want what is ours. We just want to fish in Guanabara Bay, it’s our right. And they are taking our rights,” said Bruno Alves de Vega, an urban artisanal fisher from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
All environmental human rights and Indigenous land defenders interviewed by Amnesty International faced severe safety and security risks, often stemming from disputes with companies whose activities threaten traditional ways of life and ecosystem integrity.
The fossil fuel era is inevitably coming to an end and states must stop criminalizing environmental human rights defenders fighting to protect their communities.
Candy Ofime, Researcher and Legal Advisor on climate justice at Amnesty International
Beyond physical and online threats, states and corporate actors have relied on lawfare, abusing legal action, including criminal proceedings, to silence, delegitimize and intimidate defenders. “When we rise up to defend the Yin’tah (Wet’suwet’en territory), we are criminalized. Civil injunctions are a colonial legal weapon that has become a mechanism for the militarization of our community, criminalization of our People, and for companies to carry out destructive extraction without Indigenous consent,” said other Wet’suwet’en land defenders.
Members of communities living in close proximity to fossil fuel infrastructure condemned the lack of direct and meaningful consultation and transparency from corporate actors. Many reported not fully understanding the scope of operators’ ongoing activities or expansion plans and stated that they had not consented to projects affecting their territory.
People interviewed by Amnesty International in the Saloum Delta in Senegal raised concerns regarding the poor dissemination of accessible information about the potential environmental and socio-economic impacts of the Sangomar project by authorities and project operator Woodside, a major Australian fossil fuel company.
“These case studies are but a few examples of a globalized problem. Most affected groups condemned the power imbalance between their communities and corporate operators, as well as the lack of effective remedy. The fossil fuel era is inevitably coming to an end and states must stop criminalizing environmental human rights defenders fighting to protect their communities,” said Candy Ofime, Researcher and Legal Advisor on climate justice at Amnesty International.
“States must investigate physical and online threats defenders face and put in place robust protection programmes to ensure critical voices advocating for an urgent and equitable energy transition can safely and meaningfully shape climate action.”