This concurrent resolution commends and expresses solidarity with environmental defenders. Condemning the targeting, harassment, and unlawful detention of any individual or group for exercising rights of free association and expression, the resolution recognizes the role that environmental defenders play as human rights defenders.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 31 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 31
Highlighting the risks that environmental defenders face around the
world and commending their role in defending human rights, combating
climate chaos, and supporting a clean, healthy, and sustainable
environment.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 30, 2023
Mr. Grijalva submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the
Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Highlighting the risks that environmental defenders face around the
world and commending their role in defending human rights, combating
climate chaos, and supporting a clean, healthy, and sustainable
environment.
Whereas, around the world, environmental defenders--individuals exercising their
human rights to try to peacefully protect an area or the natural
resources of such area from negative environmental impact by an ongoing
or proposed activity--face persecution from government, private sector,
and criminal actors, including restrictions on free speech and assembly,
criminalization, civil lawsuits, surveillance, harassment, verbal,
cyber, and physical intimidation, sexual assault, and targeted murder;
Whereas at least 1,733 environmental defenders have been reported killed since
2012, with at least 200 killed in 2021;
Whereas at least 1,179 environmental defenders have been reported killed in
Latin America and the Caribbean since 2012, making it the region with
the highest number of environmental defender deaths and persecution
overall, exemplified by the cases of--
(1) Homero Gomez Gonzalez, who was forcibly disappeared and found dead
in Mexico with reported signs of torture after fighting to protect the
wintering grounds of the monarch butterfly from illegal logging;
(2) Bruno Pereira, an advocate for the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil's
Amazon, who received threats and was murdered for standing up to illegal
logging, mining, and drug trafficking;
(3) Berta Caceres, a Lenca Indigenous woman, whose murder was ordered
by the Honduran company, Desarrollos Energeticos SA, for organizing
protests that led to the cancellation of the proposed Agua Zarca Dam; and
(4) the Q'eqchi Mayan Indigenous community, which faces defamation,
violent evictions, harassment, and assault by the Guatemalan National Civil
Police Force for peacefully protesting the operations of the Fenix mine and
growth of palm plantations on their territory;
Whereas at least 427 environmental defenders have been reported killed in Asia
since 2012, and governments in the region have also targeted
environmental defenders in other manners, including--
(1) the Government of Vietnam, which has sought to silence
environmental activist Dang Dinh Bach through imprisonment;
(2) the Government of the Philippines, which has enacted red-tagging
campaigns to turn public sentiment against organizations like the Kalikasan
People's Network for the Environment; and
(3) the Government of the People's Republic of China, which has falsely
charged environmental activists Li Genshan, Zhang Baoqi, and Niu Haibo for
illegally hunting or killing wildlife;
Whereas the Government of Egypt hosted the 27th Conference of Parties (COP) of
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, while
government security forces held environmental activists Ahmed Amasha and
Seif Fateen in extended, arbitrary pretrial detention for joining a
terrorist group after forcibly disappearing and torturing them for
exercising their rights to free expression;
Whereas Ali Ulvi Buyuknohutcu and Aysin Buyuknohutcu of Turkiye won lawsuits
against mining companies who illegally operated pollution-creating
quarries, but were shot and killed by gunmen with alleged ties to those
companies;
Whereas fossil fuel companies, mining operations, agribusiness plantations, and
mega dams are major causes of environmental destruction and are also
being used to drive communities from their homes and their lands;
Whereas rampant corruption and weak rule of law enables those targeting
environmental defenders to operate with impunity; and
Whereas civil society is, and should be, a powerful voice for individuals
experiencing and at risk from the effects of worsening climate chaos,
including Indigenous Peoples whose ancestral rights, lives, traditional
lands, and cultural practices are disproportionately threatened by
climate chaos: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That Congress--
(1) commends and expresses solidarity with environmental
defenders as crucial members of civil society who defend both
human rights and the environment and play a crucial role in
tackling climate chaos;
(2) strongly condemns the targeting, harassment, and
unlawful detention of any individual or group for exercising
their rights of free association and expression, including
advocacy on environmental matters, reporting and seeking
information on environmental violations and abuses, or
cooperation with local, regional, national, or international
mechanisms;
(3) welcomes the relevant principles of the Rio Declaration
on Environment and Development, done at Rio de Janeiro 1992,
and United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/RES/
40/11 (2019) as global advancements in recognizing the crucial
role that environmental defenders play as human rights
defenders;
(4) welcomes the relevant principles of United Nations
General Assembly Resolution A/RES/76/300 (2022) as advancing
the global conversation towards the importance of a clean,
healthy, and sustainable environment as an international human
right;
(5) welcomes the United States Government's assertion
during its time as Summit Chair of the Ninth Summit of the
Americas that environmental defenders should not be denied
access to basic environmental information, public participation
in proposed projects that would affect their communities, or
justice as they seek legal redress from government authorities;
(6) urges the United States Government to consult and
cooperate in good faith with Indigenous Peoples who are
concerned with the environment in order to obtain the free,
prior, and informed consent of such Indigenous Peoples, without
coercion, prior to the approval of any project affecting the
lands, territories, religious practices, or other natural and
cultural resources of such Indigenous Peoples;
(7) welcomes the work of the Department of State-led
Interagency Working Group, which invites more than 1000
officials across more than 20 Federal agencies, to reduce
violence against environmental defenders and to properly
monitor and address the expanding nature and cases of
persecution against environmental defenders;
(8) calls for the President to prioritize the global
leadership of the United States in tackling reprisals against
environmental defenders through a whole-of-government approach
in collaboration with foreign governments, multilateral
organizations, and civil society organizations;
(9) urges the Department of State to integrate concerns
about environmental defenders in all appropriate engagements to
exert diplomatic pressure and speak out publicly in countries
where environmental defenders are at risk;
(10) requests that the Department of State establish a
position focused on environmental defenders within the Bureau
of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor;
(11) requests that the United States Agency for
International Development prioritize the finalization of an
independent accountability mechanism and the establishment of a
position to integrate protection of environmental defenders
across broader environmental, economic growth, and human rights
and democracy programming in order to better achieve its 2022-
2030 Climate Strategy, which seeks to promote a safe and secure
political environment at all levels of governance for
Indigenous Peoples, human rights and environmental defenders,
and local communities to participate in climate actions and the
protection of civil society and environmental defenders,
including land and resource rights for effective climate
outcomes;
(12) encourages the United States International Development
Finance Corporation to improve transparency through its
independent accountability mechanism, conduct due diligence
with partners, and engage in local consultation processes based
on free, prior, and informed consent;
(13) encourages the United States Government to use its
voice and vote within international financial institutions to
ensure that United States taxpayer dollars do not support
individuals, foreign governments, or private sector entities
that adversely affect the environment or target or expose to
harm persons who speak out against such individuals and
entities;
(14) encourages the United States to use its leadership in
the United Nations Human Rights Council to ensure that the
intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations
and other business enterprises with respect to human rights
that was adopted by United Nations Human Rights Council
Resolution A/HRC/RES/26/9 (2014), creates an internationally
legally binding instrument that supports and protects human
rights defenders, including environmental defenders;
(15) calls for responsible conduct of United States
companies, financial institutions, and investors in relation to
the freedoms and rights of Indigenous communities and other
environmental defenders, particularly in the agribusiness,
fossil fuel, mining, and hydroelectricity sectors; and
(16) calls for the United States to use its influence as a
member of the Parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change to push for the Conference of
Parties to only take place in countries that have and actively
encourage a thriving civil society and have taken concrete
actions to tackle climate chaos, which stands in contrast to
the selection of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates who were
selected as hosts in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
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