FOE-News: “African Peoples Tribunal condemns land grabbing, seeks compensation for communities”
Ein beeindruckendes Projekt von Friends of the Earth Africa…
The African Peoples Tribunal (APT) has called for immediate and adequate compensation for African communities, that lost their land and lives through aggressive grabbing and deforestation for expansion of industrial agro-commodity plantations.
The tribunal gave the verdict at the weekend after finding 10 international corporations guilty of land grabbing and exploitation in 10 African countries in all the cases brought before it in Lagos, Nigeria.
The cases were presented through written and oral submissions by representatives of affected communities and their ally organizations. The event, organized by Friends of the Earth Africa through its Forest & Biodiversity Programme, among others, condemned human rights violations and environmental degradation connected with the monoculture tree plantation expansion from many African countries.
The forum, anchored by Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, the director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nigeria, also urged the foreign firms to restore the lands forcefully acquired back to the rightful owners – the communities.
The tribunal also called on governments to protect citizens and persons within their own jurisdictions, especially of those that brought their cases to the tribunal. The APT lamented the connivance of states to deprive citizens and communities of their lands and forests, stressing that it was objectionable and unacceptable. Besides, it advised governments in the relevant countries to immediately ensure that communities have unfettered access to their lands and abolish the requirement of passes or visas as a requirement for entry into their territories and communities.
It also pleaded with the governments to ensure the communities have access to potable water and protect their right to water.
It however appealed to governments to abolish the use of harmful chemicals in forests, plantations and community lands, reaffirming that the states were primailry responsible for ensuring environmental protection and defending the human, environmental and other rights of the people.
It urged the governments to uphold and protect the dignity of communities and adequately sanction corporations that violate human rights or destroy the environmentin their territories.
It advised the governments to reject any new bilateral or multilateral investment or free trade agreement proposed without regard for human rights norms, and halt existing agreements of this kind where they exist.
The APT called on international organisations, including financial institutions, to stop supporting or funding activities that oppress communities and abuse their rights.
At the tribunal, cases were entertained from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Tanzania, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Gabon, Liberia, Cameroon and Mozambique. Read the article here:
Watch the news on youtube here:
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