Add to CalendarTaking action together: how we can address the growing threats of violence and criminalisation of indigenous peoples & environmental rights defenders
During this session, representatives of Indigenous and forest-dependent peoples will speak directly to the threats they face in defending their lands from encroachment. Representatives of UN agencies as well as private-sector speakers will reflect on measures proposed or already being taken to address threats against Indigenous and forest-dependent peoples and how to understand and fill remaining gaps.
Speakers will discuss root causes of these threats, including exclusionary conservation and expansion of agribusinesses. Concerns with these threats were highlighted by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Michel Forst, in 2016 when he raised the alarm in a special report concerning growing violence against environmental and human rights defenders.
The worrying trend of attacks against – and at times, criminalisation of Indigenous and environmental human rights defenders – has also been documented by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Vicky Tauli-Corpuz.
This event is kindly hosted by the Forest Peoples Programme.
