human rights

Three years ago, Floribert Chebeya, a Congolese human rights activist and president of the non-governmental organization La Voix des Sans Voix (a voice for the voiceless), was found murdered in his car. The investigation into his death led to the arrest and trial of several police officers believed to be behind the murder.

In 2005, the UN General Assembly proclaimed December 20th to be International Human Solidarity Day to promote and strengthen the culture of solidarity and the spirit of sharing necessary for working towards the eradication of poverty.

World leaders recognized that in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, solidarity and cooperation would be imperative to international relations in the 21st century. After all, the United Nations has been a long-standing proponent that striving for international peace and security relies on unity, harmony, and solidarity.

On October 20^th, Development and Peace’s partner organization the Comissão Pastoral da Terra (CPT) in Brazil will be paying homage to Dom Tomás Balduino, who will be celebrating his 90^th birthday in December.

"The government is mistaken if it thinks that with bullets, torture and punches it will control the just demands of Cajamarca. The president shouldn't just defend investment. He should defend the fundamental rights of Peruvians."
- Marco Arana, environmental campaigner

Five citizens have been killed and a former catholic priest injured by police and temporarily detained – all in a context of social unrest around a proposed operation of the US mining giant, Newmont in Cajamarca, northern Peru.

Several groups in Cambodia have mobilized to condemn the use of armed force against citizens who are speaking out in defense of their rights. In the last few weeks, a series of troubling events have led to this mass mobilization, including the arrest and mistreatment of 13 women who participated in a peaceful protest against land evictions.

A public hearing on the human rights situation in the Lower Aguan region of Honduras took place on May 28, 2012, in the city of Tocoa, Colon. Severe land conflicts in this region continue to pit peasants against large land holders who have disputed previous governments' attempt at land reform, and have resulted in serious and ongoing human rights violations. The situation worsened dramatically after the Honduran coup d'etat in June 2009.

I recently had the privilege, along with some of my other colleagues, to pass an hour in the company of the Venerable Sovath, a Cambodian monk who is making himself heard by the authorities in his country. In fact, because he has dared to even ask the most simple of questions – Why can’t I be here? What laws have I broken? Or even just Why? - he has been banned from staying in the pagodas of Cambodia, which are places of worship. Furthermore, there are now concerns over his personal safety.

For most people, the mention of the Kyoto Protocol does not evoke an association with the tropical lowlands of Honduras, nor with human rights abuses.

Yet Development and Peace’s Honduran partner, the Popol Nah Tun Foundation, come face to face every day with an unpleasant and less well known facet of the Kyoto Protocol – the Clean Development Mechanism, an important component of the global carbon trading market.

A few months after the conclusion of controversial negotiations between Canada and Honduras on a Free Trade Agreement, the Honduran Congressional Committee on Mining announced on January 16th that a new Mining Bill has just been concluded and is to be debated in Congress.