Dear Relatives,
I hope this email finds you well. For the past two weeks, the Water Protector Legal Collective has been participating in the 23rd session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). Last month we honored the Water, this month we honor the Earth. As our Executive Director, Natali Segovia, wrote on Earth Day: “The land and water want us back too.”
ICYMI (in case you missed it), last Friday, we had an in-person and virtual conversation “Under Siege: Human Rights Defenders, Indigenous Peoples and the Earth” addressing the structural and legal challenges facing human rights defenders and Indigenous Peoples working in defense of the Earth in the U.S. and around the world, including those on legal front lines. As an official UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues side event, our panel included WPLC Executive Director and Senior Attorney, Natali Segovia, Joan Carling (Executive Director, Indigenous Peoples Rights International), Aaron Marr Page (Managing Attorney, Forum Nobis PLLC), and Steven Donziger (Human Rights Attorney).
The central questions I posed to our panel that were discussed included: What are some challenges and also possibilities you are seeing on the international level? How do you see this moment that we are in - what are the possibilities and limitations for finding corporate accountability on the international level? What are the trends you are seeing in the law in the U.S. (Turtle Island) that affect how Indigenous Peoples, seeking to protect 80% of the world’s biodiversity, are impacted by the law? Why is this work so important right now? What have you learned in representing Indigenous Peoples? If you missed the live panel, you can catch the recording here:
Around the world, Indigenous Peoples and the Earth experience challenges and violence, including access to justice and the impacts of a legal system that was not built for Indigenous Peoples and prioritizes property rights over the sacredness of the Earth. As Indigenous peoples, we are 5% of the world population but steward 85% of the world's biodiversity. Corporate interests, extraction and the rights of Indigenous Peoples are inextricably linked, as frontline human rights defenders (HRDs) work to defend the Earth and existence itself.
In 2022, Front Line Defenders reported a grim milestone: for the first time we saw more than 400 targeted killings of human rights defenders. Latin America (known as Abya Yala in the language of the Kuna peoples), remained the deadliest region in the world for human rights defenders. The five most targeted sectors of human rights defense were: environmental, land and Indigenous Peoples’ rights (11%); freedom of expression (10%); protest movement/ freedom of assembly (9%); women’s rights (7%); and impunity and access to justice (6%). 401 HRDs were killed in 26 countries in 2022 compared to 358 HRDs in 35 countries in 2021. These are everyday struggles for Indigenous Peoples across the world.
While the past few weeks have been exhausting, I have never felt more certain I am on the right path. I am so proud to be a part of this team of warriors at WPLC, fighting to protect our relatives and our waters. I am humbled to be able to learn from our relatives all over the world, who share our struggles and fight for the love of their own Peoples and lands. I am honored to be able to do this work and thank our greater WPLC family for allowing me the opportunity and privilege.
Our work at WPLC is made possible through the generous support of individuals like you. If the information shared in the panel resonated with you and you believe in the importance of protecting our Peoples, lands, and waters, please consider donating to support our ongoing legal advocacy efforts.
Your contribution will directly contribute to the defense of Water Protectors and the protection of our Nahasdzáán/Pachamama (Mother Earth) herself. Every donation, no matter how small, makes a meaningful impact on our ability to continue this work. Every day we work for our Peoples to change the tapestry of the law.
Thank you for continuing to support our work. It was so nice to connect with some of you in-person. Follow us on social media to keep updated and learn more about our trip to the UNPFII.
Ahéhee’,
Nizhoni Camille Begay (Diné/Quechua)
Communications & Development Coordinator
Water Protector Legal Collective
Comments