extractive industries
Friday 6.5.2022 Norway - Latest Developments -
Environmental rights protests against Russian Fossil Fuels and local mining projects
Several protests for environmental rights took place during this period including the first Fridays for Future strike since the pandemic, a protest against imports of Russian fossil fuels and a protest to halt mining construction. Read more
Wednesday 4.5.2022 El Salvador - Latest Developments -
El Salvador: human rights defenders arbitrarily detained during state of emergency
On 24th April 2022, El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly extended the state of emergency for another 30 days, following a request from President Nayib Bukele.
Since a state of emergency was established to address gang-related violence, about 16,000 people were detained for alleged connections with criminal groups. Amid the crackdown, there have been reports of arbitrary detentions and police officers being made to fulfil arrest quotas, encouraging further due process violations. Human rights groups and journalists speaking out about abuses have faced stigmatisation and public vilification.
Read more
| Read in Spanish
Tuesday 26.4.2022 Brazil - Latest Developments -
Brazil: shocking violence on HRDs and journalists continues
On 10th February 2022, nine-year-old Jonatas de Oliveira dos Santos was shot and killed in an attack in Engenho Roncadorzinho, a community in the town of Barreiros, Pernambuco state. According to the local police, the boy was killed in retaliation against his father, Geovane da Silva Santos, a community leader and president of the local smallholder farmers’ association. Read more
Monday 25.4.2022 Germany - Latest Developments -
RSF index signals decline in press freedom as journalists continue to come under attack
In its World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) once again noted a decline in press freedom in Germany, which dropped from 13th place to 16th, attributing this to the ongoing attacks on journalists. For example, during the reporting period, journalists from the photo and video documentation platform La Vue Critique were the target of multiple episodes of violence and harassment by Querdenker and Neonazi protesters. Read more
Tuesday 12.4.2022 Peru - Latest Developments -
Peru: protests over price rises and violence against human rights defenders
On 3rd December 2021, Indigenous Asháninka leader Lucio Pascual Yumanga was found dead with gunshot wounds in the Puerto Bermúdez district, Pasco department. Rising fuel, fertilizer and food costs led transport workers to call for a strike in late March 2022, in protests that soon spread throughout Peru. Read more | Read in Spanish
Wednesday 23.3.2022 Honduras - Latest Developments -
Honduras: Guapinol water defenders released after trial annulled by Supreme Court
On 27th January 2022, Xiomara Castro of the Libre party was sworn in as Honduras’ president. She took office amid a dispute with dissidents in her own party, who rebelled against her preferred choice for Congress leadership. Read more | Read in Spanish
Tuesday 22.3.2022 Guatemala - Latest Developments -
Guatemala: surveillance of journalists and reprisals against anti-corruption officials
On 10th February 2022, Leysi Indira Santizo Rodas, lawyer and former representative of the UN’s International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), was arrested by agents from the Attorney General’s Office. The lawyer was accused of obstruction of justice, in the latest case of reprisals against members of the anti-corruption effort. Read more | Read in Spanish
Friday 4.2.2022 Argentina - Latest Developments -
Protesters in Argentina take to the streets against IMF and large-scale mining
On 24th September 2021, police in Neuquén evicted a Mapuche Lof Quemquemtreu community from territory they had occupied near El Bolsón, Río Negro province. About 30 Indigenous people, who are in the process of reclaiming ancestral territory, were violently evicted by police using disproportionate force – including rubber bullets and firearms. Read more | Read in Spanish
Friday 21.1.2022 Zimbabwe - Latest Developments -
Pro-democracy activist Makomborero Haruzivishe released on bail after months in detention
Marange residents arrested for peaceful protests; Trial of pro-democracy activists begin; Freedom fighters arrested for demanding increased pension earnings; Activist freed after two months in prison; Continued imprisonment of pro-democracy activist raises concern; Police officer arrested for free speech Read more
Thursday 13.1.2022 Guatemala - Latest Developments -
Guatemala: concern over killings, criminalisation and harassment of HRDs
As previously reported on the CIVICUS Monitor, anti-mining protests led by Indigenous peoples in El Estor, Izabal department, were met with police repression and a state of siege in October 2021. In December 2021, the Energy and Mining Ministry excluded Maya Q’eqchi’ Ancestral Council leaders from a community consultation on the Fénix nickel mining project. Read more | Read in Spanish
