Human Rights Council online side event Hostility and Threats in Global Supply Chains: Risks for human rights defenders & their communities protecting their lands and forests, organized together with the UN Special Rapporteur on HRDs, Mary Lawlor, which the Zero Tolerance Initiative is hosting on the 18^th of March at 2pm London / 9 am Lima / 5 pm Kenya / 10 pm Philippines.

This event will highlight the key findings from the Special Rapporteur’s latest report, with a focus on issues faced by environmental and land rights defenders. The purpose will be to hear directly from community leaders and indigenous defenders, opposing land grabs and objecting to business projects imposed on communities without free, prior and informed consent, that have experienced threats and attacks first-hand.

In dialogue with Mary, HRDs will speak about the kinds of attacks they, their communities and organizations currently face, how they have faced an expansion of agribusiness and extractive frontiers, the lack of recognition of their rights, corporate capture, systemic corruption, organised crime, impunity and the other factors driving these attacks. We will also hear how communities are currently collectively protecting themselves and what support they have accessed and what actions are needed by states, businesses and investors to stop the violence and killings.

Interpretation into Spanish will be available. There may be another speaker confirmed in the coming days. 

We will hear from:

• Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
• Kakay Tolentino, coordinator of BAI Indigenous Women’s Network, Philippines
• Efer Silvano, Community leader, Santa Clara de Uchunya, Ucayali, Peru
• Miguel Guimaraes, FECONAU, indigenous leader and human rights defender, member of the Steering Group of the ZTI, Peru
• Community leader from Kenya (cannot be named for security reasons)
• Moderator: Christen Dobson, Senior Project Lead – Civic freedoms & Human Rights Defenders, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

ZTI members that got particularly involved in the organization are Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, ISHR, IWGIA, FECONAU, AIPP and FPP.

Please make sure to register here