The Environment: Latin America’s Battleground for Human Rights
The Environment: Latin Americas Battleground for Human Rights
By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Indigenous Asheninka activist Diana Rios (centre) from the Amazon village of Saweto, Peru is
the daughter of slain activist Jorge Rios who was murdered by illegal loggers in September
2014. Credit: Lyndal Rowlands /
NEW YORK, Jun 22 2016 (IPS) - 2015 was the deadliest year on record for the killings of environmental activists around the world, according to a new Global Witness report.
The report, On Dangerous Ground, found that in 2015, 185 people were killed defending the environment across 16 countries, a 59 percent increase from 2014.
The environment is becoming a new battleground for human rights, Global Witness Campaign Leader for Environmental and Land Defenders Billy Kyte told IPS. Many of these activists are being treated as enemies of the state when they should be treated as heroes, he continued.
The rise in attacks is partially due to the increased demand for natural resources which have sparked conflicts between residents in remote, resource-rich areas and industries such as mining, logging and agribusinesses.
More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2016/06/the-environment-latin-americas-battleground-for-human-rights/
[center]
Slain activist Jorge Ríos and his family
well before he was assassinated for
trying to save their ancestral home
from the loggers.
(It appears the person taking their photo positioned them so they were looking
directly into the sun, forcing them to squint quite a bit. This isn't representative,
there just aren't lotsa photos of the man before he was murdered.)