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Author: communications

On 29 March 2017, the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of El Salvador adopted a law prohibiting all activities of exploration, exploitation and processing of metals in the country. It also cancels all administrative processes relating to the requests of licences and permits to conduct activities relating to metal mining. This law is inspired by a proposal initially presented to the Legislative Assembly by the Archbishop of San Salvador, José Luis Escobar Alas. The law seeks to protect public health and the fragile environment of El Salvador from the threats caused by metal mining.

The adoption of this law is a major victory for the Mesa Nacional Frente a la Minería Metálica, a network of organisations, individuals, religious, and academics who has been advocating for years in favour of the prohibition of metal mining.

The Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office of El Salvador, Franciscans International’s (FI) main partner in the country, is an active member of the Mesa Nacional. At the United Nations in Geneva, Franciscans International informed the Special Rapporteurs on environment, health, water and sanitation, and food about the positive initiative of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador and asked them to monitor the implementation of the law.

In the future, Franciscans International will continue collaborating with the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation in El Salvador and with Mesa Nacional on mining-related issues. FI will also seek to foster exchanges among its partners in the Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific, and share with them best practices, such as the new anti-mining legislation adopted in El Salvador.

Yesterday President Donald Trump has announced the withdrawal of the US from the UN Paris Climate Agreement.

Franciscans International believes this to be an irresponsible act that will have worldwide repercussions affecting millions of lives, particularly of those most vulnerable.

Franciscans International urges the international community to strongly reaffirm its commitments to the Paris agreement and to act without delay in implementing them.

Markus Heinze, Executive Director of Franciscans International said: “It is vital to see a prompt and concerted reaction from both the international community and civil society to ensure that the world’s poorest countries are not left paying an even higher human and environmental cost.”

For interviews with Markus Heinze, please contact Paolo Cravero at p.cravero@fiop.org

The Churches and Mining network expresses its solidarity with the Shuar indigenous people of Ecuador who have faced severe retaliation and violence in recent years as a response to their fight against the negative human rights and environmental impacts of mining activities on their territory. 

The latest incident took place on December 20, when Acción Ecológica, an organisation that has been defending human rights and the environment for more than 30 years, was notified by the Ministry of the Environment that an administrative action has been initiated to close down the organization because it had purportedly deviated from its original objectives and mission. 

Churches and Mining considers this action to be retaliation for defending human rights and opposing the mining project of Ecuacorrientes S.A. for its detrimental consequences.

Read the statement here.

The Human Rights Council’s integrity and authority is being threatened by a group of States who want to indefinitely defer the mandate and work of the Independent Expert on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI).

FI supports the Human Rights Council and the Independent Expert in his mandate, and has issued a statement. You can read it here.

You can also take action and ask your government to stand by the HRC’s integrity and reject any attempt at undermining the mandate of the SOGI Independent Expert by visiting ILGA World’s Facebook note here

Multinational corporations continue to perpetrate human rights and environmental abuses through their activities in the countries where they operate, and communities affected by their activities struggle to defend their rights and to obtain justice and reparation. 

FI will be actively participating in the UN’s second Inter-Governmental Working Group (IGWG) on Business and Human Rights, taking place October 24-28, 2016. We are advocating for a legally binding instrument to keep businesses accountable to their human rights obligations, and to ensure access to justice for victims of these abuses.

Five of our partners from around the world will be speaking at events and lobbying decision-makers throughout the week, giving their accounts on how mining has violated several rights of the communities in which they live and work. They include Mr. Henri Muhiya, from the Episcopal Commission on Natural Resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Mr. Jaybee Garganera, from Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) in the Philippines; Mr. Pablo Sanchez, from GRUFIDES in Peru, and Mr. Rodrigo Peret from SINFRAJUPE / Churches and Mining in Brazil. 

  • You can read the Treaty Alliance’s statement here.
  • All written submissions about the need for a Treaty can be found on the IGWG website here.
  • All side events taking place inside the UN can also be found on the IGWG website.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo finds itself at an important crossroads: President Joseph Kabila’s second term is coming to an end on 19 December  2016, and the country’s Constitution prevents him from taking on a third term.   The Government should be preparing the ground for credible and democratic elections – but instead, it has deliberately stalled the organisation of these elections, and Kabila has not yet pronounced his intention to step down.  Those loyal to the President have been seeking to silence and repress those calling for timely elections and a peaceful transition of power.  At least 17 people people (the opposition claims it is closer to 50) were killed on September 19 and 20, 2016, in two days of street clashes between security forces and protesters against a delayed presidential election. Several opposition party buildings were also burned.

Along with EurAc, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, Amnesty International, Caritas Internationalis, Dominicans for Justice and Peace, and many other civil society NGOs, Franciscans International co-hosted a debate that featured various perspectives from both the field and the international community. Ida Sawyer, Senior Researcher for Human Rights Watch, and Ambassador Carl Hallergard, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva,  detailed the situation, mentioning the atmosphere of repression and the silencing of dissident voices. Msgr. Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, vice-president of the National Episcopal Conference and Bishop of the Bokungu-Ikela Diosece;  Micheline Mwendike and Fred Bauma from la LUCHA, a grassroots movement of young people striving for non-violent change, shared the stories of their work in such a difficult context,  of creative ways forward, and of their hope that peaceful and credible elections are still possible.  Fred Bauma also shared his experience of prison, where he was detained for 17 months for having spoken against the government’s violent actions, and taken part in peaceful protests.  

The panellists warned of the danger of impending dictatorship and increasing violence and human rights abuses, calling on the UN Human Rights Council and the international community to apply strong and concrete sanctions against specific officials and security forces responsible for violations and violence against dissidents in this pre-electoral context.

On September 30th, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a Resolution, calling the government to create “without delay the necessary conditions for the holding of free, transparent, inclusive and peaceful elections.”  The Human Rights Council will continue to monitor the situation, with special attention to violations against liberty, free speech, and basic citizen rights.  

  • The event was broadcast live – you can watch it on our Facebook page.

The adoption of the Philippines Mining Act in 1995 opened up the proliferation of mining permits handed to foreign corporations. The Act facilitates the extraction of mining resources by foreign investors, but has very little value added for the local economy. The mining sector represents less than 2% of the Gross Domestic Product of the Philippines and employs less than 0.4 % of the labor force. And yet mining activities have serious negative impacts on the environment, particularly on the ancestral domains of Indigenous Peoples.

Empowering people affected by the negative impacts of mining was one of the main issues discussed at the Extreme Poverty and Human Rights workshop that took place in Quezon City, Philippines, from August 29 to 31.  The workshop was coordinated by Franciscans International (FI) and the Franciscans Solidarity Movement of JPIC (Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation), in the context of implementing the Handbook “Making Human Rights Work for People Living in Extreme Poverty: A Handbook for Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights,” launched by FI and ATD Fourth World at the end of 2015.

Since the launch, FI has been promoting the Handbook and its rights-based approach both at the United Nations, and among its partners on the field, developing training material and workshops to ensure its implementation as widely as possible.  The workshops stress hands-on action planning and the development of concrete advocacy strategies by the participants.

More than 50 participants from different regions in the Philippines, including partners working directly with affected populations living in extreme poverty, gathered for the workshop in Quezon City, with the aim to strengthen and develop advocacy strategies for a rights-based approach to corporate responsibility.  The meeting was very timely, especially in the context of civil society’s current campaign to scrap the Mining Act of 1995 and to replace it with an Alternative Mining Management Bill (AMMB) that includes key accountability measures for mining corporations.

Participants committed to engaging in dialogue with government officials and agencies, to discuss policy reform towards poverty alleviation based on the UN Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, and to advocate for a human rights based approach in policies. They also highlighted the importance and their intent to raise awareness about the Guiding Principles at grassroots level, with teachers and parents in schools, and with sisters and brothers who work directly with affected communities.

Franciscans International and Romans VI (the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation group of the Franciscan Family) are sending a team of 15 delegates to the World Social Forum in Montreal, Canada, that is taking place from August 9th to 14th, 2016.

The delegation will speak out and advocate for the most marginalised in three big areas: crimes committed by the mining industry, the rights of those living in extreme poverty, and ensuring that the rights of people and of the planet come before profit when it comes to the accountability of transnational corporations.

Partners and FI representatives will denounce and detail the environmental destruction caused by dam breaches in Brazil and Canada; they will explore how global networks can be used to resist mining transnational corporations, and look for collaborative ways to respond to wide-ranging human rights violations caused by these companies.

Delegates will argue for a human rights based strategy to question the current development model, in order to ensure that the rights of the most marginalised are respected in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.  Delegation members will also participate in the Convergence Assembly that is bringing together groups and movements that battle against extractivism and work relentlessly for the respect of human and environmental rights of concerned communities. 

Mukuru, Nairobi, is one of Kenya’s largest informal settlements. It counts over 100 000 residents and is characterised by poor drainage and sewage systems, poorly designed houses built near the road reserves and drainage system, and the grabbing of land meant for development of infrastructure.  Infrastructural expansion has become a complex task due to land cartels and gangs who strongly oppose upgrading initiatives. Social amenities put up by NGOs have also been grabbed and are being managed by powerful individuals at the expense of the citizens for whom those facilities were designed. “I had a kiosk, given to me by a company, to help improve my life,” explains a disabled young man. ”But it was grabbed and never given back.  The man who took it threatened to have me arrested.”  

In September 2015, FI and ATD Fourth World released their Handbook “Making Human Rights Work For People Living in Extreme Poverty”, a practical tool that presents key elements for mobilising and empowering people and communities living in extreme poverty to advocate for policies that promote and advance their rights. Since the launch, FI has been promoting the Handbook and its rights-based approach both at the United Nations, and among its partners on the field, developing training material and workshops to ensure its implementation as widely as possible. The workshops stress hands-on action planning and the development of concrete advocacy strategies by the participants. FI coordinated the first of these workshops in Mukuru on June 29th and 30th 2016.

Community members who attended the workshop included a large number of young people, vocal and committed to seeing change in their community, and several women who contributed important detail and assured their continuing involvement and follow-up.  When asked about the main issue they were facing in Mukuru, participants chose to focus on the right to adequate housing, connected closely to security of land tenure.  Following guiding questions from the Handbook, they explained how the right to own land opens the road to bank loans, to opening small businesses, to constructing permanent homes. They noted the link between the outbreak and fast proliferation of diseases due to congested settlements, and the general insecurity that reigns as people fight for land after having been forcefully evicted. Following the discussion, workshop organisers and participants agreed that housing and settlement would be the main focus of ensuing action plans and advocacy strategies.

Solid action-plans came out of the sessions, with community leaders recognising how important it was to share information about land rights and raise awareness around the current cases of eviction and the responses from law enforcement. They listed their allies, primary and secondary advocacy targets, and started putting into place national and county-level lobbying processes. “This workshop on advocacy and human rights has made me understand how to better address human rights issues,” commented one of the participants. “Issues of forced eviction are rampant in Mukuru, and we hope the Handbook can help us address them efficiently.” Participants intend to meet and interact with concerned authorities and other relevant stakeholders in late August, through a second workshop planned in Nairobi.

FI’s next planned workshops around the Handbook on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights are set to take place in Argentina at the end of July, and in the Philippines in mid-August. 

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